Dear Colleagues,

The Somalia Aid Coordination Body (SACB) Gender and Human Rights working group plans to start a documentation center at the SACB secretariat. Kindly share with the Secretariat any documents that you may have on Gender and human rights for Somalia or any other country) either electronic and hard copies.

Kind regards,
SACB Secretariat
Kalson Towers 5th Flr. Parklands Road,
Opp. MP Shah Hospital
P.O Box 28832-00200, Nairobi
Tel: 254-20-3754145-8 Fax: 254-20-3754149
Email: sacb.so at undp.org
Website: www.sacb.info

Dear SSRN Community Member:

SSRN's significant growth has continued through the first half of
2005. Full text PDF downloads from the eLibrary were 2.5 million for
the last 12 months (up from 2.2 million for the same period last
year). The total number of documents in SSRN's eLibrary increased by
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We are very proud of SSRN's enthusiastic reception by the worldwide
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As we announced yesterday, we are expanding our relationships with
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Thank you for a great start in 2005!

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AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe/Liebe Freunde,

Deutschlandpremiere: Aristotle’s Plot
Jean-Pierre Bekolo, 1996, Zimbabwe/Kamerun, 72 min., Engl. OF m. frz. U
Filmvorführung und Diskussion

Am Sonntag, den 26. Juni lädt AfricAvenir in Kooperation mit der Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA) und dem South African Club um 17.15 Uhr zu einer Filmvorführung mit anschließender Diskussion ins Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein. Gezeigt wird der Spielfilm „Aristotle’s Plot“ des kamerunischen Regisseurs Jean-Pierre Bekolo. Im Anschluss findet eine Diskussion mit dem Regisseur statt.

Aristotle’s Plot ist einer der ungewöhnlichsten afrikanischen Filme der letzten Jahrzehnte!
Neben so namhaften Regisseuren wie Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard, Stephen Frears und Bernardo Bertolucci wurde der Kameruner Jean-Pierre Bekolo vom British Film Institute auserwählt, 100 Jahren Kinogeschichte in einem Film zu reflektieren. Heraus gekommen ist eine fiktive und bitterböse Satire über Hollywoods Macht im heutigen Afrika und über die Authentizität des afrikanischen Kinos.

Jean-Pierre Bekolo lehrt an der Duke University, Program in Film/Video/Digital. Sein erster Spielfilm ‚Quartier Mozart’ wurde u.a. 1992 in Cannes mit dem ‚Prix Afrique en Création’ ausgezeichnet.

Sonntag, 26. Juni 2005, 17.15 Uhr
Eintritt: 5€
Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41, 10178 Berlin)
Vorbestellung unter: 030 - 2 83 46 03 (MO-SA ab 14.30 Uhr/SO ab 10.30 Uhr)

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich at africavenir.org

Redaktion des Newsletters: Eric Van Grasdorff, e.vangrasdorff at africavenir.org
AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich.

Search for Common Ground Update
June 2005

Independent Palestinian Journalists Attend Common Ground Media Training In Washington, DC

At the end of May, 2005 Search for Common Ground (SFCG) hosted a weeklong Common Ground Media training for 13 young journalists from Palestine. Their itinerary included meetings with experienced and respected American journalists. The overall objective of the training was to strengthen a free and independent Palestinian media, in support of a functioning democratic and civil society. This visit was possible because of the relationship that SFCG has built with Palestinian journalists in the West Bank and Gaza over the past decade.

Since 2002, SFCG's Middle East Media Program has helped to support the development of the Ma'an Network, which consists of 11 independent TV and radio stations and production studios located in major cities in the West Bank and Gaza. The Ma'an Network is dedicated to promoting democracy and freedom of thought in Palestine. SFCG has provided a series of Common Ground Media trainings to strengthen journalists' capacity to take civic responsibility for their reporting by communicating objectively and reducing inflammatory broadcasts.

The connections forged during the week had a major impact on the participants. The emotional high points were visits to ABC's studios for a meeting with Ted Koppel, and to WAMU FM to observe a broadcast followed by a conversation with popular radio host Diane Rehm. Both media celebrities spoke openly about their careers, the professional difficulties they've faced, the challenges of working in the American media system and the choices they make as journalists every day. The participants were touched by the humility and openness of Koppel, Rehm and the other American journalists they met at the Washington Post, National Public Radio and the National Press Club.

Afterwards Diane Rehm said, "I greatly enjoyed meeting these bright and inquisitive journalists. It is through their work that peace and understanding may one day flourish in the Middle East. Talking to them reinforced my belief in the positive power of good journalism and the important role that Common Ground plays in the search for cooperative solutions."

SFCG Middle East Media Project Director, Geoffrey Weichselbaum, who accompanied the journalists throughout the week, expressed his conviction that the visit was enormously impactful for the journalists in terms of breaking down stereotypical perceptions about the U.S. and Americans. He described some of the shifts in attitudes that occurred as the week progressed, and said the cumulative effect of their time together was inspiring.

The visit concluded with an invitation to attend a reception with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who was in Washington to meet with President Bush.

As a result of the experience, Linda Bannourah, an anchor and journalist from Bethlehem TV, said she has a better sense of how to tell the Palestinian story. She is working on a very sensitive investigative report about honor killing1, which she has been planning to do for two years. Linda said that meeting with Ted Koppel and Diane Rehm helped give her the confidence to report on this difficult subject. She hopes that her report will help encourage people to start talking publicly about honor killings and to question the practice.

Bassam Nasser, Program Coordinator at the Gaza Center for Democracy and Conflict Resolution, spoke about the importance of independent media for Palestinian society. He noted that Palestine is in a process of change and is facing many challenges, especially in exposing more sensitive cultural issues. He stressed that part of the mission as independent journalists is to help their society by talking about difficult topics. He believes that media can influence public opinion on certain issues, and can help with democratization and raising public awareness about the political, cultural and social development of the country and their society.

The participants formed close personal bonds that will encourage greater cooperation, despite the difficult geographic reality they face in working together. Before they returned home, the journalists spoke about their renewed sense of commitment to being catalysts for positive change in Palestine.

----------------
1Honor killing is the practice of males killing their female relatives or spouses when the female relative or spouse is considered to have damaged the family honor through unwarranted sexual activity. (Wikipedia, 2005)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please click here to learn more about our Middle East programmes.

The WMD's DemocracyNews
Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org

CALL FOR ITEMS

POSTING NEWS:
We welcome items to include in DemocracyNews. Please send an email message to world [at] ned.org with the item you would like to post in the body of the message.

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Dear World Movement Participants:

The next issue of DemocracyNews will go out on July 12, 2005. In order to make DemocracyNews as useful as possible, we ask you to send us any items related to democracy work that you think would be of interest to others.

The next deadline for submitting items is ** July 1** Please send items to: world [at] ned.org.

You are encouraged to submit items under any area of democracy work. We welcome items announcing publications, upcoming events, reports on research, new Web sites, and other information, and we are most interested in posting requests for partnerships between organizations on collaborative projects, brief descriptions of collaborative projects already underway or completed, and ideas for new initiatives in which others may be interested. We hope DemocracyNews will be a source not only for information about participants' activities, but also for new ideas about strategies to advance democracy.

Please share this message with your colleagues.

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If you do not have access to the Web and would like to access the materials mentioned above, please contact us by e-mail (world [at] ned.org) or fax (202-293-0755).

DemocracyNews is an electronic mailing list moderated by the National Endowment for Democracy as the Secretariat of the World Movement for Democracy. The material presented in DemocracyNews is intended for information purposes only.

2001-2010 International Decade for a Culture of Peace

In the 3rd millennium the civilization needs more dialogue and no more wars. That is what the international language Esperanto is all about.

We invite you to dialogue with men and women from other cultures in an e-mail list, that you can join by sending an e-mail to:

hiwar-al-hadharat-interciviliza-dialogo-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com.

In this list everybody can use his or her own language.

To dialogue in a base of equity, no one must use an alien language, or it should be a commune language, just created for this objective. You can learn it by clicking here

http://www.cursodeesperanto.com.br/en/index.html.

****************************************************************

Cultura de Paz 2001-2010

Década Internacional para a Cultura de Paz

No terceiro milênio, as civilizações precisam dialogar e não mais guerrear. A este respeito, o movimento a favor da língua internacional Esperanto está trabalhando.

Nós os convidadmos a dialogar com pessoas de outras civilizações numa lista na internet, a qual você poderá entrar clicando aqui hiwar-al-hadharat-interciviliza-dialogo-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com>.

Nesta lista todos podem usar sua própria língua.

Para dialogar em bases iguais, ninguém deveria ser obrigado a usar uma língua estrangeira, ou todos deveriam ser obrigados a usar uma língua em comum, criada justamente para este fim. Você poderá aprendê-la clicando aqui

http://www.cursodeesperanto.com.br/.

****************************************************************

Culture de Paix 2001-2010

Décénie pour une Culture de la Paix

Au 3ème millénaire, les civilisations ont besoin de dialoguer et non de se faire la guerre. C'est à cela que travaille le mouvement pour la langue internationale Espéranto.

Nous vous invitons à dialoguer avec des hommes d'autres civilisations sur une liste que vous pourrez atteindre en écrivant à hiwar-al-hadharat-interciviliza-dialogo-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com>.

Sur cette liste, chacun a le droit d'utiliser sa langue.

Pour dialoguer à égalité , personne ne devrait être obligé à utiliser une langue étrangère ou chacun devrait être obligé d'utiliser une langue justement crée à cette fin. Vous pouvez l'apprendre en clicquant ici

http://www.cursodeesperanto.com.br/fr/index.html

****************************************************************

Decenio Internacional de una Cultura de Paz

En el tercer milenio la civilización requiere dialogar y no pelear mas. Por esto trabaja el movimiento de la lengua internacional Esperanto.

Te invitamos a dialogar con gente de otras culturas en una lista de correos electrónicos, a la cual te puedes inscribir con un mensaje a hiwar-al-hadharat-interciviliza-dialogo-subscribe [at] yahoogroups.com.

En esta lista todos tienen derecho a usar su idioma.

Para dialogar en una base de igualdad, nadie deberá usar una lengua extranjera, o todos deberán usar una lengua común creada justamente para este propósito. La puedes aprender haciendo click aquí http://www.cursodeesperanto.com.br/.

Nazi Solat
uea.unesko.org
www.esperanto.net

The 3rd International Conference on Universities’ Quality Development “Learning and China”
at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU),
13.-14. 10. 2005

Birthe Loa Knizek
Associate Professor, Ph.D.
Department of Psychology
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology
N-7491 Trondheim
Norway
E-mail: birthe.loa.knizek at svt.ntnu.no

George Soros Will Give More Than $200-Million to Central European U.
From the Chronicle of Higher Education
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/06/2005062205n.htm

George Soros, the international financier and philanthropist, has pledged $206-million to the endowment of Central European University, a Budapest-based graduate institution founded shortly after the collapse of Eastern Europe's communist regimes. The university generally teaches in English and takes a critical, Western-style approach to the social sciences and humanities in a region where such approaches were once banned. The university said that the gift would be provided at the start of the next academic year, and would bring the endowment's value to approximately $486-million. Mr. Soros, who helped found the university and has been a major benefactor ever since, also announced a pledge of $24-million for the university's business school.

The Hungarian government has accredited Central European University, making it possible for the university to work more easily with peer institutions elsewhere in the European Union. The university is also accredited by an American organization, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. "CEU has a unique dual identity and can serve as a bridge across many divides," Mr. Soros, a Hungarian-American, said in a written statement. "The increase in its endowment provides CEU with the resources and stability it needs to continue to grow into a world-class research and teaching institution aligned with a mission of promoting open societies."

The university began operations in 1991 and today has more than 1,000 students from nearly 60 countries. The endowment announcement was made this month at the university's 14th graduation ceremony.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright 2005 by The Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/daily/2005/06/2005062205n.htm

EXPOLINGUA BERLIN 2005
18th International Fair for Languages and Cultures
November 18 - 20, 2005

Where:
Russisches Haus der Wissenschaft und Kultur, Friedrichstraße 176-179, D-10117 Berlin, Germany
Organizer: ICWE GmbH, Leibnizstr. 32, D-10625 Berlin, Germany, Tel.: +49-30-327 6140, Fax: +49-30-324 9833, www.icwe.net, info@icwe.net
Contact: Silke Lieber, info@expolingua.com, www.expolingua.com

Short Description:
EXPOLINGUA Berlin is the most important fair for Languages and Cultures in German speaking countries. About 130 exhibitors from more than 20 countries worldwide will be present. The fair is targeted towards all who are interested in learning or teaching a foreign language. Expolingua Berlin 2005 will offer an extensive seminar programme open to all visitors with workshops, round-table discussions and presentations.Topics will include Study and Work Experiences Abroad, Language Learning and Language Teaching.

+++++ EXPOLINGUA Praha - November 11 - 12, 2005 - www.expolingua.cz +++++

NEWSLETTER FROM THE HUMAN RIGHTS HOUSE NETWORK

1 Dalai Lama: - The wish for democracy can no longer be silenced
On Tuesday 14 June, the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dalai Lama visited the Norwegian Human Rights House. - The wish for democracy among the Chinese people has grown so strong that it can no longer be silenced, said the Buddhist, who himself is the best example of just that.

2 Colombia: Over 7000 "disappearances" registered
More than 7000 "disappeared" persons have been registered by the Association of the Families of the Detained and Disappeared (ASFADDES) in Colombia. For the families there is no closure.

3 700 000 homeless children and orphans in Russia
The number of homeless children and orphans in Russia reached 700 000 by the end of 2002, according to Russian Children’s Fund. This number is comparable to the number of orphans following the Second World War.

4 Kenyan human rights organisations mark UN Victims of Torture Day
On 26 June, a host of Kenyan human rights organisations, joined by lawyers, students, Wananchi and the media, will join forces to mark the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture. - We will use the day to demand a Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission to be set up, says Kang'ethe Mungai of Release Political Prisoners.

5 Hina Jilani about HRH: - Practical and much needed support
-I have been extremely impressed by the work of the Human Rights House Network. Contributions by the Network to the establishment of 'human rights houses' provides very practical and much needed support to individual human rights defender organisations and also to networks of defenders, says Hina Jilani, UN Special Representative to the Secretary General on the situation of human rights defenders, in a letter of endorsement.

6 Uganda: So much for multi-partyism, says key human rights defender
-The forthcoming referendum on multi-partyism is opposed by civil society, oppositional political parties and the donor community, and not only for its wastefulness, says Martin Masiga (right), Executive Director of HURINET, one of the leading human rights organisations in Uganda. Read Masiga's background on the issue.
See also: - If Museveni stays on, forget about the peace in the north of Uganda

7 Declaration on Srebrenica
Eight Serbian NGO`s made the draft of a Declaration on Srebrenica and put forth to the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia. They also called Serbian Authorities to adopt the Declaration, and to join the democratic world that will evoke the memory of Srebrenica crime so as to manifest that it has made up its mind that the history of mankind would never again witness such horror of organized and massive murder of people just because of their identity.

8 Minsk: The independent weekly "Den" harassed
On 26 May 2005, police seized all the copies of the independent weekly "Den" when it made a new attempt to publish. The paper has been off newsstands for one year according to Reporters Sans Frontiers.

9 United States: Court case over comic book's nude Picasso
The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is backing a legal challenge to charges brought against a US shopkeeper who accidently allowed a child to be given a copy of a comic book featuring images of artist Pablo Picasso in the nude. Index on Censorship reports.

******************************************************************
Free of charge news and background service from the Human
Rights House Network, an international forum of cooperation between
independent human rights houses. It works to strengthen cooperation and
improve the security and capacity of the 70 human rights organizations in
the Network. The Human Rights House Foundation in Oslo is the
secretariat.

To subscribe, please send an email to:
newsletter-subscribe@humanrightshouse.org

More news and background on www.humanrightshouse.org

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Sent by:
Borghild Tønnessen-Krokan
Editor/Project Manager
Human Rights House Foundation (HRH)
Address: Menneskerettighetshuset,
Tordenskioldsgate 6b, 0160 Oslo, Norway
Tel: (+47) 22 47 92 47, Direct: (+47) 22 47 92 44,
Fax: (+47) 22 47 92 01
Website: http://www.humanrightshouse.org,
http://www.menneskerettigheter.no

African community radios go on line

Montreal, June 21, 2005. Five African community radio stations have opened their Web portals to the world, and more will follow their lead as part of a project that seeks to strengthen radio broadcasting on the continent, the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) in Africa announced today.

The CATIA program "Building Broadcasting in Africa" is a strategic multi-partner initiative that uses radio to help increase access to information. The three main partner organizations are AMARC Africa, One World and the Panos Institute. The program focuses on four main measures that together provide a strategic approach to building the effectiveness of radio as a tool for democratization, development and action against poverty. These measures are: providing access to technology, building training and technical knowledge, investing in content development and providing access to information sharing.

With their new portals, community radios Mecap FM (Togo), Niani FM (Senegal), Radio Baniganse (Benin), Radio Khwezi (South Africa), Radio Yopougon (Ivory Coast) will be able to acquire new technical skills, exchange information and resources, improve communication, and increase their visibility in the region.

AMARC Africa serves and supports over 385 member radio stations in all regions of sub-Saharan Africa. The World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) is an international non-governmental organization serving the community radio movement. It has more than 3,000 members in over 110 countries.

To visit the new Web sites, please go to http://www.africa.amarc.org or http://www.radios.amarc.org

For more information please contact Shingai Nyoka at comofficer at amarcafrica.org

Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
June 21, 2005

The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) is distributing the enclosed articles to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. Unless otherwise noted, all copyright permissions have been obtained and the articles may be reproduced by any news outlet or publication free of charge. If publishing, please acknowledge both the original source and CGNews, and notify us at cgnewspih@sfcg.org.

**********

ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

4. "Why Ridley Scott's story of the Crusades struck such a chord in a Lebanese cinema" by Robert Fisk
Robert Fisk, a Beirut-based journalist and author of several books on the region, gives a Beirut-perspective on the controversial movie Kingdom of Heaven. There have been many reviews that discuss how it was received in the West; now join Fisk in a Lebanese theatre to experience the reaction there.
(Source: The Independent, June 4, 2005)
**********

ARTICLE 1
Washington and lucky coincidences!
Salama Nematt

It seems that the opposite campaign in what was describes as "democratic expansion" in the Middle East was tenaciously launched and with a greater thrust than a Tsunami. The changes were celebrated early: repression, increasing arrests for the reformists and the opposition in the countries of the region, a greater control over the media and harder prohibition of public gathering etc...

The constitutional amendment in Egypt, considered to be one of the "achievements" of the reform process, became a weapon in the hands of the authority, granting the ruling regime a new legitimacy, after guaranteeing that the reformists will boycott the referendum, while the rest will be washed out from the competition, via some well-know means. In Lebanon, the feeble participation in the election and the traditional sectarian quotas, came to put out the heated enthusiasm of those yearning for change. In parallel, the Israeli maneuvers sought to evade from earlier commitments with regard to the implementation of the "Roadmap" by undermining the government of the elected PM Mahmoud Abbas and his peaceful agenda, despite all the hopeless efforts of the American President to support Abbas during his visit to Washington. In Iraq, the terrorists and their natural allies in the region joined efforts in order to amputate the Iraqi elections from its meaning and appeal to the peoples of the region. The Arab governments tell their people, who are thirsty for reform: "this is the democracy promised by America. Do you want more?"

As expected, this opposite campaign was opposed by a motionless reaction in Washington: motionless in facing the organized revolution against all what was achieved since Saddam Hussein's regime overthrown, the absence (or riddance) of Yasser Arafat and the assassination of Rafiq Al Hariri... A motionless reaction towards the commitments to Bush's promises of supporting anyone who dares to ask for democracy.

Most certainly, what is happening in the region today is considered to be a regression and a challenge facing Bush's administration, as well as anyone who believes that the most powerful state in the world is serious and sincere in pushing for the reform agenda in both the region and the world. It would bolster the convictions that the recent developments towards reform were only the product of unintentional coincidences by the American administration. The Iraqi elections took place because Saddam Hussein's regime was overthrown and after the insistence of Al Sistani on holding these elections to give the Shiite majority the legitimacy they deserve in assuming governance. Since Bush's administration launched its war to topple Saddam and his regime and not to establish democracy, the Iraqi elections came without any American drive. However, Washington saw certain benefits in these elections, not the least, since they bestowed legitimacy to the war, even though in a retroactive effect after the failure in finding any WMD. The Palestinian elections took place only after Israel removed the restrictions imposed on the process; after President Arafat passed away. Washington can not claim that "Bush's ideology" was the gearing power of these elections.

In Lebanon, the Syrian mistakes and the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, paved the way for the Independence Intifada, yet, one cannot take too lightly the importance of what happened in Iraq in encouraging the Lebanese opposition to take clearer stances in their opposition to the Syrian presence in Lebanon. In other words, one can say that Bush won the first round on the Middle East simply by coincidence. The organized movements, opposed to his ideology, seem to be on the brink to declare their victory in the second round, amidst a blatant American motionless.

Most certainly, after the second round, Washington will need more than just coincidence, should it be serious in pushing for its stated regional agenda.
###
* Salama Nematt is the Washington correspondent for the daily Al-Hayat:
Source: Al-Hayat, June 2, 2005
Visit Al-Hayat, English.daralhayat.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 2
Satellite TV and democracy
S. Abdallah Schleifer

CAIRO -- Little more than a decade ago there was no such thing as television journalism in the Arab world. State-owned national television channels had news bulletins, but they were dominated by footage covering ceremonial occasions of state. This held true in both republics and monarchies. There were no television reporters, just a cameraman who recorded the event for the evening news, while a presenter read wire copy from the state or semi-official news agency that covered it.

Unlike radio, there was no comparison effect. Terrestrial television could be relayed the length of a country, but not beyond its borders. BBC Arabic Radio Service, on the other hand, was available to anyone.

Regional news - a coup, a civil war, a massacre - might take days to appear, because the channel would wait for the government to decide on its response . Most notorious was the failure of the official Saudi media to mention the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait for more than 48 hours.

What changed this - and here is a pertinent lesson of how benign foreign intervention by force of example can lead to change - was CNN coverage of the buildup and eventual combat between the American-led alliance and Iraq in 1991. Given the need to dispel outrageous Iraqi radio propaganda, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries in the alliance pulled down CNN Coverage and retransmitted it via terrestrial television. Suddenly, Arabs could see events in the Arab world significantly covered.

Saudi private interests with close ties to the palace sensed the importance of satellite news and the potential for mischief if placed in the wrong hands. They quickly moved after the war to establish a satellite channel with morning and evening news bulletins transmitting real reports - meaningful news stories by Arab correspondents in the field with their cameramen.

That channel, MBC, was based in London where there was already a cadre of expatriate Arab journalists trained to international standards. In such an environment, real news reports from the field, narrated in Arabic and available on television, were a stunning experience. MBC quickly acquired a large audience.

Other channels followed, notably in 1996 when the newly installed Emir of Qatar provided funds and facility to launch Al Jazeera, approximating the BBC model of publicly-owned but not state-controlled television. The core staff at Al Jazeera had all been trained and served as broadcasters at BBC.

By now, dishes and a number of entertainment satellite channels were proliferating across most of the Arab world. That provided Al Jazeera with a rapidly growing mass audience, now estimated at more than 50 million viewers. Because Al Jazeera is a 24/7 news operation, it quickly seized the leadership position in Arab satellite broadcasting: a position that would not be significantly challenged until just before the invasion of Iraq, when the MBC group gathered together a group of Arab journalists, including the first news director at Al Jazeera and a number of Al Jazeera reporters, and launched Al Arabiya.

The competition has had a positive effect. Arab satellite television journalists are less likely to indulge their personal ideological takes on the news when they know a more detached and reliable version is available.

It was an amazing historic reverse; the most servile, the most state-controlled, the least professional of all media in the Arab world, was suddenly refashioned in a satellite format, providing news reports more in accord with international professional standards than any other form of media in the region. And because those reports can be up-linked from Europe to a satellite that can download these reports to dishes anywhere in the Arab world, it is un-censorable.

Both Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya responded to widespread concern and anger in the Arab world with America's deepening involvement in the region - in particular the invasion and occupation of Iraq and what has appeared as continued US support for the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories - by increasing coverage of American political life. This included intensive coverage of the 2004 US presidential elections campaign, resulting in extraordinary coverage of the American democratic process from the primaries onward.

In contrast to the usual confrontational talk shows, Al Jazeera's programs, "From Washington" and "The American Presidential Face," had a distinctly informative style. These shows were obviously designed to help viewers newly interested in American politics to better understand what was happening during the campaign, and to grasp the basic workings of the American democratic system.

The coverage deepened the Arab world's factual, rather than preconceived, understanding of America. As an additional side effect, it provided a familiarization with the operations of a functioning democracy. A similar effect has been underway in the intense reporting on political life in England by the Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya bureaus in London.

Two other elections have had a profound effect on stimulating the democratic process in the Arab world. On the one hand there were the Palestinian presidential and municipal elections. In the latter Hamas entered the political process and did quite well, suggesting that there is a price to be paid for the sort of casual corruption that characterized the Palestinian Authority's rule since Oslo.

And the election with the greatest impact of all was the one in Iraq, in which millions of Arabs watched millions of Iraqis braving terrorist threats to vote in highly competitive elections. The great question that those elections pose in the consciousness of every Arab everywhere is: If free, competitive elections can be held in Iraq, despite a violent insurgency and a foreign occupation, then why not here?
###
* S. Abdallah Schleifer is director of the Adham Center at the American University in Cairo and publisher/senior editor of the journal Transnational Broadcasting Studies.
Source: Bitterlemons-International, May 31, 2005.
Visit Bitterlemons-International, www.bitterlemons.org.
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

**********

ARTICLE 3
The rise of Islamist feminism
Saad S. Khan

Friday, the 18th of March, 2005, shall be remembered as a watershed in the Islamic discourse on the role of woman in religious life, as the first-ever Friday congregation was led by a Muslim woman scholar that day.

The woman prayer leader, Amina Wadud, professor of Islamic Studies at the Virginia Commonwealth University, was considered a heretic by many, as she challenged the halo of sanctity around the male-centric, and in some cases, misogynic constructions of Muslim religious teachings.

Right or wrong, Wadud went ahead with leading a Friday congregation of around 100 faithful, evenly divided into men and women, in Manhattan, New York. The venue of the prayers had been changed over and over again, as three mosques refused to host the event and the administration of an art gallery backed out for fear of a bomb blast.

Wadud did not budge and finally the congregation was held in an Anglican church hall, under heavy security. Some 15 demonstrators protested outside, calling the congregation a mockery of Islam.

There are many issues of jurisprudence involved in this issue: Can a woman lead the men in prayers? Can she deliver a sermon? Can she recite the azan (prayer call), and if so, can she do it without wearing the hijab (Muslim headscarf), as was the case in this event? Can men and women pray together, intermingled, instead of standing in separate rows for the two sexes?

Wadud's answer to all these questions is a clear affirmative. And the presence of scores of Muslims standing behind her in Manhattan alone shows that there is a significant minority opinion among Muslims in the West who share her understanding of the Koran.

As expected, swift was the criticism from a vast cross-section of the Muslim world. From the president of Libya to the shopkeeper in England, voices were raised in blasting the event. Many religious scholars also joined the chorus of disapproval. The Islamic Fiqh (jurisprudence) Academy, or the IFA, an affiliate of the Jeddah-based Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), came out of its slumber and strongly condemned the congregation as "religious heresy".

Many Islamic scholars have opined that special mosques for women can be built in which only women can lead prayers provided the azan is recited by a male Muslim. Others, such as prominent Pakistani cleric Israr Ahmad, believe that at an all-women mosque, there should be a woman muezzin.

Sheikh Mohammed Al Tantawi of Al Azhar, the Islamic world's leading institution of religious study in Egypt, wrote in Cairo's Al Ahram newspaper that Islam permits women to lead other women in prayers, but not a congregation with men in it, because "when she leads men in prayer ... it's not proper for them to look at the woman whose body is in front of them".

It appears that for Sheikh Tantawi the issue is more of men being able to look at a woman's body than woman being religiously or spiritually incompetent to be a prayer leader.

Wadud bases her case on traditions from the Prophet Mohammed. The issue of gender equality is a very important one in Islam and Muslims have unfortunately used highly restrictive interpretations of history to move backward," Wadud said before the service started. "With this prayer service we are moving forward. This single act is symbolic of the possibilities within Islam."

Asra Nomani, author of a widely-selling book on women in Islam, Standing Alone in Mecca, is another Muslim woman who is working to improve what she believes are women's rights in Islam. She began by trying to break a gender barrier by filing a discrimination complaint against the mosque founded by her father 23 years ago for asking women to enter by a side door.

Last year Nomani, 39, her mother and niece entered the mosque through the front door and began praying in the main room. Some men then broke off the service and tried to convince them to leave. She not only complained to the police but also involved the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She was then notified by e-mail that the mosque's executive committee has received a petition signed by 35 of 135 fellow members seeking her expulsion. She refused to accept expulsion.

Nomani, who is an Asian-American of Indian descent, is also a single mother. Although Islamic cultural and legal paradigms rate chastity very highly, for Asra Nomani, being a single mother is not something to conceal.

When Nomani traveled to Mecca she developed a strong antipathy to the Wahhabi school of thought. She claims that when she studied Islam, she found that the Prophet was the first feminist in Islam. She says that her love for the Koran and for the prophet grew as she learned more of the rights that Islam accorded to women 1,400 years ago.

Another outspoken Muslim feminist happens to be a proclaimed lesbian. Canada's Irshad Manji, also of South Asian decent, and the author of The Trouble with Islam, sees no contradiction in being a practicing Muslim and an overt homosexual at the same time. She is also a supporter of Israel.

Feminism in Islam is not an altogether new phenomenon. Tahira Qurat-ul-Ain of Iran, Fatima Aalia Hanim of Turkey and Zainab Al Fawwaz and Aisha Taimuria of Egypt all rose to prominence in the late nineteenth century.

The twentieth century saw the rise of Zainab Al Ghazali Al Jubaili of Egypt, the only female scholar in history who has written a tafseer (exegesis) of the holy Koran and Nazira Zain Al Abideen of Lebanon. But not all twentieth-century Muslim feminists invoked Islam. Actually, the views of such female writers as Tasleema Nasreen of Bangladesh, Nawal Saadawi of Egypt and Fatimah Mernissi of Morocco have often been so outrageous toward Islam that religious edicts have been issued calling for their deaths.

It is also a fact that most contemporary Muslim scholars who espoused traditional conservative views about women, such as Hassan Al Banna, Sayyid Qutb, Maulana Muwdoudi, Hassan Al Turabi, Imam Khomeini and Rachid Ghannouchi, were either Western-educated or had close exposure to Western societies. They considered Western society too permissive and decadent and felt that the future stability of Islamic societies depended largely on the preservation of Islam's traditional views on marriage, home and family.

Many Muslim feminists in the West now claim - with Nomani and Manji being exceptions - that they are not against traditional family views, but want to oppose patriarchal notions of shame and honor that have nothing to do with Islam. They also register their protests against forced marriages, restrictions on education and careers and female genital mutilation (FMG), as practiced in many Muslim communities.

There are also women who argue that the veil is not necessarily a means to protect women, being instead a cause of sexual excitement for male eyes.

Muslim feminists can no longer be written away as morally corrupt women who have no knowledge of Islam. This had been the modus operandi of some Muslim scholars to discredit women rights activists within the Islamist framework. This approach can hardly be expected to work any longer. After all, many of the women are making their case on the basis of arguments from the Koran and Sunnah.

"If the Koran is fully comprehended," Wadud writes in her book Women and Koran, "it will become a motivating force for women's empowerment".

One needs to recognize and underline the importance of rational and freethinking in Islam. No single school of thought in the wide spectrum of opinions about the status of women in Islam may be entirely correct.

A gender-neutral and gender-sensitive understanding of the text is, therefore, called for.

Muslim women in Europe are ethnically, culturally and ideologically diverse and complex groups, and so are the feminists among them. This is a time when we must put our heads together and find solutions through dialogue and, as the Koran stipulates: "argue with them in a way that is nice", that is, debate with people who see things differently.

Islamic feminism is now a reality, as is feminism in other religions, Christianity included, where the ordainment of female clerics has taken place in the recent past. The late Pope John Paul II was staunchly opposed to the ordainment of women priests as is the present Pope Benedict the XVIth. But the fact is that the women worldwide are now questioning the status that had been accorded to them by religion and culture throughout history.
###
* Saad S. Khan is an Oxford-published author and a widely read analyst on Islam, politics and governance in the Muslim world.
Source: Middle East Times, May 27, 2005
Visit Middle East Times, www.metimes.com.
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
Why Ridley Scott's story of the Crusades struck such a chord in a Lebanese cinema
Robert Fisk

Long live Ridley Scott. I never thought I'd say this. Gladiator had a screenplay that might have come from the Boy's Own Paper. Black Hawk Down showed the Arabs of Somalia as generically violent animals. But when I left the cinema after seeing Scott's extraordinary sand-and-sandals epic on the Crusades, Kingdom of Heaven, I was deeply moved - not so much by the film, but by the Muslim audience among whom I watched it in Beirut.

I know what the critics have said. The screenplay isn't up for much and Orlando Bloom, playing the loss-of-faith crusader Balian of Ibelin, does indeed look - as The Independent cruelly observed - like a backpacker touring the Middle East in a gap year.

But there is an integrity about its portrayal of the Crusades which, while fitting neatly into our contemporary view of the Middle East - the moderate crusaders are overtaken by crazed neo-conservative barons while Saladin is taunted by a dangerously al-Qa'ida-like warrior - treats the Muslims as men of honour who can show generosity as well as ruthlessness to their enemies.

It was certainly a revelation to sit through Kingdom of Heaven not in London or New York but in Beirut, in the Middle East itself, among Muslims - most of them in their 20s - who were watching historical events that took place only a couple of hundred miles from us. How would the audience react when the Knights Templars went on their orgy of rape and head-chopping among the innocent Muslim villagers of the Holy Land, when they advanced, covered in gore, to murder Saladin's beautiful, chadored sister? I must admit, I held my breath a few times.

I need not have bothered. When the leprous King of Jerusalem - his face covered in a steel mask to spare his followers the ordeal of looking at his decomposition - falls fatally ill after honourably preventing a battle between Crusaders and Saracens, Saladin, played by that wonderful Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud - and thank God the Arabs in the film are played by Arabs - tells his deputies to send his own doctors to look after the Christian king.

At this, there came from the Muslim audience a round of spontaneous applause. They admired this act of mercy from their warrior hero; they wanted to see his kindness to a Christian.

There are some things in the film which you have to be out here in the Middle East to appreciate. When Balian comes across a pile of crusader heads lying on the sand after the Christian defeat at the 1187 battle of Hittin, everyone in the cinema thought of Iraq; here is the nightmare I face each time I travel to report in Iraq. Here is the horror that the many Lebanese who work in Iraq have to confront. Yet there was a wonderful moment of self-deprecation among the audience when Saladin, reflecting on his life, says: "Somebody tried to kill me once in Lebanon."

The house came down. Everyone believed that Massoud must have inserted this line to make fun of the Lebanese ability to destroy themselves and - having lived in Lebanon 29 years and witnessed almost all its tragedy - I too founds tears of laughter running down my face.

I suppose that living in Lebanon, among those crusader castles, does also give an edge to Kingdom of Heaven. It's said that Scott originally wanted to film in Lebanon (rather than Spain and Morocco) and to call his movie Tripoli after the great crusader keep I visited a few weeks ago. One of the big Christian political families in Lebanon, the Franjiehs, take their name from the "Franj", which is what the Arabs called the crusaders. The Douai family in Lebanon - with whom the Franjiehs fought a bitter battle, Knights Templar-style, in a church in 1957 - are the descendants of the French knights who came from the northern French city of Douai.

Yet it is ironic that this movie elicited so much cynical comment in the West. Here is a tale that - unlike any other recent film - has captured the admiration of Muslims. Yet we denigrated it. Because Orlando Bloom turns so improbably from blacksmith to crusader to hydraulic engineer? Or because we felt uncomfortable at the way the film portrayed "us", the crusaders?

But it didn't duck Muslim vengeance. When Guy de Lusignan hands the cup of iced water given him by Saladin to the murderous knight who slaughtered Saladin's daughter, the Muslim warrior says menacingly: "I did not give you the cup." And then he puts his sword through the knight's throat. Which is, according to the archives, exactly what he did say and exactly what he did do.

Massoud, who is a popular local actor in Arab films - he is known in the Middle East as the Syrian Al Pacino - in reality believes that George Bush is to blame for much of the crisis between the Muslim and Western world. "George Bush is stupid and he loves blood more than the people and music," he said in a recent interview. "If Saladin were here he would have at least not allowed Bush to destroy the world, especially the feeling of humanity between people."

Massoud agreed to play Saladin because he trusted Scott to be fair with history. I had to turn to that fine Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf to discover whether Massoud was right. Maalouf it was who wrote the seminal The Crusades through Arab Eyes, researching for his work among Arab rather than Crusader archives. "Too fair," was his judgement on Kingdom of Heaven.

I see his point. But at the end of the film, after Balian has surrendered Jerusalem, Saladin enters the city and finds a crucifix lying on the floor of a church, knocked off the altar during the three-day siege. And he carefully picks up the cross and places it reverently back on the altar. And at this point the audience rose to their feet and clapped and shouted their appreciation. They loved that gesture of honour. They wanted Islam to be merciful as well as strong. And they roared their approval above the soundtrack of the film.

So I left the Dunes cinema in Beirut strangely uplifted by this extraordinary performance - of the audience as much as the film. See it if you haven't. And if you do, remember how the Muslims of Beirut came to realise that even Hollywood can be fair. I came away realising why - despite the murder of Beirut's bravest journalist on Friday - there probably will not be a civil war here again. So if you see Kingdom of Heaven, when Saladin sets the crucifix back on the altar, remember that deafening applause from the Muslims of Beirut.

###
* Robert Fisk is a Beirut-based journalist and author of several books on the region.
Source: The Independent, June 4, 2005
Visit the Independent, www.independent.co.uk.
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
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PEACE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
(Friedensbrücken über den Atlantik)
Nachrichten über Graswurzel Friedensaktivitäten in den USA
Ausgabe 4 / 2005

Peace Across the Atlantic (PATA) Nummer 4 erscheint in einer wesentlich kürzeren Ausgabe als gewöhnlich. Sie finden darin Berichte über derzeitige Aktivitäten aber kein Schwerpunktthema. Die aktuellen Berichte befassen sich mit einer großen Bandbreite von Themen, von Klimawandel über Abrüstung bis hin zum Recht auf Lesen.

Der Grund für die Verkürzung der Ausgabe ist, dass wir, die Herausgeber, gerade unseren Wohnsitz von Deutschland in die Vereinigten Staaten verlegen und unsere Hauptbeschäftigung derzeit aus Sortieren, Packen und so weiter besteht. Wegen des Umzugs werden wir im nächsten Monat keine PATA-Ausgaben produzieren können, d.h die Nummer 5 erscheint erst Ende Juli 2005.

Von unserem neuen Wohnort in den USA aus werden wir mit Peace across the Atlantic weiter machen. Über das Projekt Bridges of Encouragement planen wir außerdem weitere Initiativen mit dem Ziel des internationalen Austausches mit US-Friedensaktivisten. Zum Beispiel möchten wir lokalen Gruppen auf beiden Seiten des Atlantiks helfen, Partnerschaften zu gründen, Austauschprogramme in Gang zu bringen und Friedenstouren in beide Richtungen zu planen.

Bitte, reichen Sie diese Ausgabe weiter an Freunde und Freundinnen sowie an Kollegen und Kolleginnen. Wir hoffen auch, dass Sie Mundpropaganda für uns machen. Beispielsweise könnte es sein, dass Sie in Gesprächen mit Freunden und Kollegen nach den Informationen aus Zeitungen und Fernsehen zweifeln, ob es in den USA überhaupt noch Stimmen gibt, die sich mit dem Friedensthema befassen. Das könnte eine Chance sein, einige der unten abgedruckten Geschichten weiter zu erzählen.

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Inhaltsverzeichnis

Nachrichten - Kampagnen und Aktionen
Mut in der Bibliothek einer kleinen Stadt
Muttertag in den USA – Ein Antikriegstag
156 Bürgermeister verwirklichen das Kyoto Protokoll
Anti-Atom-Gruppen bei UN-Abrüstungskonferenz

Wenn Sie mehr tun wollen

Wer Wir Sind

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Mut in der Bibliothek einer kleinen Stadt

Joan Airoldi ist Bibliothekarin und Leiterin der Bibliothek im Kreis Whatcom im Bundesstaat Washington. Im Juni 2004 erschien ein FBI-Agent (Bundespolizei derUSA) in der kleinen Zweigbibliothek in Deming, Washington. Er forderte die Namen aller Bibliothekskunden, die ein bestimmtes Buch ausgeliehen hatten: „Bin Laden, der Mann, der Amerika den Krieg erklärt hat“. Das FBI war von einem Leser alarmiert worden, weil jemand eine als Bedrohung empfundene Notiz am Seitenrand dieses Buches gemacht hatte. (Später konnten die Anwälte der Bibliothek mit Hilfe einer Google-Suche im Internet nachweisen, dass der Satz ein wörtliches Zitat aus einem Bin Laden – Interview von 1998 war.)

Joan Airoldi leitete die Bemühungen der Bibliothek, der FBI-Forderung nicht nachzugeben. Zuerst weigerte sich die Zweigbibliothek, die vom FBI verlangten Informationen herauszugeben. Joan und ihre MitarbeiterInnen teilten dem Agenten mit, sie würden ohne gerichtliche Anweisung keine Informationen freigeben. Zwei Wochen später erhielt die Bibliothek eine Vorladung der „Grand Jury“ (Anklagekammer) mit dem Ziel, alle Namen der Bürger preiszugeben, die das Buch seit November 2001 ausgeliehen hatten. [In den USA entscheidet eine Grand Jury, ob eine Person beschuldigt werden soll, ein Verbrechen begangen zu haben. Die Kammer, die aus lokalen Bürgerinnen und Bürgern besteht, hat die Befugnis, jegliche Information einzufordern, die sie für ihre Entscheidung für zweckdienlich hält.]

Der Vorstand der Kreis Bibliothek beschloss, sich der Aufforderung der Grand Jury zu widersetzen. Man entwickelte Pläne, die Forderung der Jury ganz legal als Verletzung des ersten Zusatz-Artikels der amerikanischen Verfassung anzufechten, welcher die Freiheit der Rede garantiert. Die Vorstandsmitglieder verständigten sich auch darauf, gegen jede weitere Vorladung Widerstand zu leisten. Einen Monat später erfuhren sie, dass das FBI den Gerichtsbeschluss zurückgezogen hatte.

Im April 2005 erhielten Joan Airoldi und ihre Bibliothek einen besonderen Preis, mit dem Verdienste um den ersten Zusatz-Artikel (Freiheit der Rede) ausgezeichnet werden. Der Preis wird vom amerikanischen PEN – Zentrum verliehen, dem nationalen Zweig von PEN International, der bekannten Literatur- und Menschenrechts-Organisation. Mit den Preis von US $ 25.000 werden sie eine Stiftung gründen, die Foren und Arbeitsgruppen zum Thema intellektuelle Freiheit fördern soll.

Anlässlich der Preisverleihung (genaue Bezeichnung: PEN / Newman’s Own First Amendment Award) nannte das amerikanische PEN-Zentrum die Handlungsweise von Joan und ihren MitarbeiterInnen heroisch. Es ist zu hoffen, dass die Preisträger für andere Bibliothekare und Buchhändler im Fall ähnlicher Forderungen ein Vorbild sein werden. Im Whatcom Library Fall versuchte das FBI, über die Grand Jury die Vorladung zu erzwingen. Wäre das FBI mit einem auf den neuen Antiterrorgesetzen – US „Patriot Act“ – basierenden Beschluss gekommen, hätte die Bibliothek die Forderung nicht mit legalen Mitteln abweisen können, und die Leserlisten wären am Ende in den FBI-Akten gelandet.

Der Patriot Act muss noch in diesem Jahr neu verlängert werden. Menschenrechtsgruppen fordern mit engagierten Kampagnen vom US-Kongress, viele der Abschnitte, die Bürgerrechte aushöhlen, zu streichen, darunter die Möglichkeit des Staates zu beobachten, was ihre Bürger und Bürgerinnen lesen.

Muttertag in der USA – Ein Antikriegstag

Der Muttertag, der erste Sonntag im Mai, ist in den Vereinigten Staaten ein sehr großer Festtag. Es heißt, dass er der Tag mit den meisten Ferngespräche sei und der zweitgrößte Geschenke-Tag (an zweiter Stelle liege nur noch Weihnachten). Seit 1914 ist der Muttertag ein offizieller amerikanischer Feiertag,an ihm sollen vor allem die eigene Mutter, aber auch Mütter im Allgemeinen geehrt werden. Der ursprüngliche Gedanke des Muttertages war aber ein Antikriegsgedanke, ein Aufruf an die Mütter von Soldaten überall, um den Verlust ihrer Söhne zu trauern und ihre Stimmen gegen den Krieg zu erheben. Im Mai dieses Jahres haben Friedensgruppen in manchen US-Gemeinden den Muttertag gefeiert indem sie diese ursprüngliche Botschaft in Erinnerung riefen.

Die Idee für einen besonderen Muttertag hatte ursprünglich Anna Jarvis, eine Hausfrau, die im Appalachen-Gebirge von West Virginia lebte. Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts, organisierte sie Frauen in Muttertags-Arbeitsgemeinschaften, um die hygienischen Verhältnisse in ihren Gemeinden zu verbessern. Als der Bürgerkrieg 1861 anfing, war ihr Gebiet eine geteilte Region, in der die Armeen beider Seiten stationiert waren. Die Muttertags-Arbeitsgemeinschaften entschieden, dass sie weiterhin gemeinsam arbeiten wollten, unabhängig davon auf welcher Seite ihre Männer und Söhne kämpften. Als Typhus unter den Soldaten ausbrach, erwartete man von ihnen, die Kranken beider Armeen zu pflegen. Als der Krieg beendet war, wurde Anna von den örtlichen Politikern gebeten, bei der Versöhnung der Parteien zu helfen. Sie organisierte einen Freundschaftstag der Mütter in ihrem Landkreis und als Ergebnis wurde eine außerordentliche Versöhnungszeremonie von den Familien gefeiert, die sich vorher bekriegt hatten.

Einige Jahre später rief eine bekannte Schriftstellerin, Julia Ward Howe, inspiriert von der Arbeit von Anna Jarvis, zu einem „Muttertag für den Frieden“ auf. Vorher, noch während des Bürgerkriegs, hatte sie Soldatenlager besucht und den Tod und die Verstümmelungen selbst gesehen. Sie hatte auch mit Witwen auf beiden Seiten gearbeitet und das hat ihr zu der Erkenntnis verholfen, dass die Auswirkungen eines Krieges noch viel tiefer gehend sind als es der Tod von Soldaten ist. 1870 hat sie von dem neuen Krieg erfahren, dem Krieg zwischen Frankreich und Preußen und sie sah wie die Tragödie sich wiederholte. Sie gab eine Proklamation heraus, in der sie alle Frauen aufrief sich zu erheben und sich dem Krieg in allen seinen Formen entgegenzustellen. Außerdem setzte sie sich für die offizielle Anerkennung eines Muttertags für den Frieden ein. Leider waren ihre Bemühungen nicht erfolgreich. Viele Jahre später war die Tochter von Anna Jarvis, (die auch Anna Jarvis hieß), erfolgreich in ihrer Kampagne für einen offiziellen Muttertags-Feiertag; doch der Tag hatte sich von einem Antikriegstag zu einem Feiertag der Mutterschaft gewandelt.

Heutzutage versuchen viele Friedens- und Frauengruppen, die originale Bedeutung des Tages zurückzuholen. Am 11. Mai hielt die Friedens Koalition Norfolk, Virginia ihre drittes jährliche Muttertags-Kundgebung für Frieden und Gerechtigkeit. In Denton, Texas wurde ein Muttertags-Picknick für den Frieden abgehalten, in Charlotte, North Carolina eine Muttertags-Mahnwache, um „sich auf die ursprüngliche Bedeutung des Tages zu besinnen“. In Nord-Kalifornien brachten die Peninsula Raging Grannies (Siehe auch Zornige Omas in PATA Issue No1) eine historische Nachstellung von Julia Ward Howes Vortrag ihrer Muttertags-Proklamation. Diese Proklamation wurde sowohl in Friedenspublikationen als auch im Internet weit verbreitet. 135 Jahre nach ihrer Entstehung sind die Worte dieser Proklamation genauso relevant und wichtig.

Zur weiteren Information: www.peace.ca/mothersdayproclamation.htm

Wenn Sie Julia Ward Howes Muttertags Proklamation in deutscher Übersetzung haben wollen, setzen Sie sich bitte mit uns in Verbindung.

156 Bürgermeister verwirklichen das Kyoto Protokoll

Die Bürgermeister von 156 amerikanischen Städten haben eine neue, ungewöhnliche Umweltkoalition geschlossen. Sie haben beschlossen, die Erwärmung der Erdatmosphäre lokal zu bekämpfen, indem sie versuchen werden, dem Kyoto Protokoll in ihren eigenen Städten zu folgen. Das steht im Gegensatz zur Entscheidung der US Regierung, aus dem Abkommen auszusteigen mit der Begründung, so ein Abkommen wäre schlecht für die US-Wirtschaft. Diese Bürgermeister, sowohl Demokraten als auch Republikaner, glauben, dass ein Klimawandel eine weitaus größere Bedrohung der Wirtschaft in ihren Städten wäre und dass jetzt sofort etwas getan werden müsse.

Ihr Abkommen, das sich „Abkommen von Bürgermeistern der Vereinigten Staaten zum Klimaschutz ” nennt (The U.S Mayors Climate Protection Agreement), legt fest, dass die Bürgermeister sich bemühen werden, die Ziele des Kyoto Protokolls zu erreichen oder sogar zu übertreffen, indem sie in ihren eigenen Gemeinden entsprechende Maßnahmen ergreifen werden. Sie alle haben sich verpflichtet, die Treibhausgasemissionen in ihren Städten bis 2012 um 7% unter die von 1990 zu drücken. Das Abkommen mahnt die Bundesregierung wie auch die Regierungen der einzelnen Staaten dasselbe zu tun. Laut diesem Abkommen gibt es 12 Möglichkeiten die Stadtregierungen in Betracht ziehen können, wie z.B. Transportalternativen, den Kauf von energiesparenden Geräten und Einrichtungen für die Stadt und einen Flächennutzungsplan, der Zersiedelung weitgehend verhindern kann.

Dieses Abkommen wurde vom Bürgermeister von Seattle, Greg Nickels, im Februar 2005 angeregt, als das Kyoto Protokoll in Kraft trat. Zusammen mit neun anderen Bürgermeistern schickte er einen Brief an mehr als 400 weitere Bürgermeister und bat sie, diesem Abkommen beizutreten. Bis jetzt haben 156 von ihnen unterschrieben; sie kommen aus 37 verschiedenen Staaten und repräsentieren 32 Millionen Bürger und Bürgerinnen. ( Stand 1. Juni 2005)

Viele der Bürgermeister, die bei diesem Aktion mitmachen, spüren die direkten Auswirkungen der atmosphärischen Erwärmung in ihren Gemeinden. Greg Nickels war alarmiert über eine Serie von niederschlagsfreien Wintern und dem Schwund der Gletscher im naheliegenden Gebirgszug. Das könnte Folgen für die Trinkwasserversorgung sowohl wie die Versorgung der Stadt mit Strom durch Wasserkraft haben. Die Bürgermeister von New Orleans, Louisiana und Alexandria, Virginia sind besorgt über die wachsende Gefahr von Überschwemmungen. Der Bürgermeister von Bellevue, Nebraska sagte, ihn erfülle die Gefahr der Dürre in seiner landwirtschaftlich geprägten Gemeinde mit großer Sorge.

Um die Anforderungen des Kyoto Protokolls zu erfüllen, haben die Bürgermeister ihre Städte verpflichtet, eine Bestandsaufnahme der Treibhausgasemissionen ihrer Arbeitsabläufe durchzuführen, Ziele zur Verminderung dieser Emissionen zu setzen und einen Aktionsplan zu entwerfen. Die Ergebnisse sind natürlich von Stadt zu Stadt verschieden. Seattle, z.B., verlangt nun von all den vielen Kreuzfahrtschiffen, die in ihrem Hafen anlegen, ihre Dieselmaschinen auszuschalten und ausschließlich Elektrizität, die von der Stadt bereitgestellt wird, zu nutzen solange sie vor Anker liegen.. Salt Lake City, Utah ist zum größten Kunden für Windenergie im Staate geworden.

Diese Aktion der Bürgermeister ist ein Zeichen der Hoffnung; zumindest auf der lokalen Regierungsebene dringt die Erkenntnis durch, dass die Beziehung zwischen einer gesunden Umwelt und einer gesunden Gesellschaft sehr eng ist.

Zur weiteren Information:
www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/climate/
Den vollen Text der Abmachung können Sie hier finden:
www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/climate/cpaText.htm
Hier ist eine Liste der unterzeichneten Bürgermeister:
www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/climate/quotes.htm#mayors
Und ein Artikel in der New York Times über die Abmachung (für Artikel, die älter als eine Woche sind wird eine kleine Gebühr erhoben):
www.nytimes.com/2005/05/14/national/14kyoto.html

Anti-Atom-Gruppen bei UN-Abrüstungskonferenz

Der Atomwaffen-Nichtweiterverbreitungsvertrag (Nonproliferation Treaty – NPT) ist ein internationaler Vertrag von historischer Bedeutung mit dem Ziel, eine Weiterverbreitung von Atomwaffen und Atomwaffentechnologie zu verhindern. Er gilt seit 1970 und wurde von 188 Staaten unterzeichnet, die fünf wichtigsten Atommächte eingeschlossen. Er dient als Meilenstein auf dem Weg der weltweiten nuklearen Abrüstung. Teil des Abkommens beinhaltet eine Berichterstattungskonferenz alle fünf Jahre. Die „Review Conference“ der Vertragsbeteiligten 2005 fand im Monat Mai bei den Vereinten Nationen in New York statt.

Diese Konferenz ist nicht nur eine Versammlung aller Staaten, die den Vertrag unterzeichnet haben, sondern auch ein Kristallisationspunkt für Anti-Atom-Aktivisten aus aller Welt. Hunderte kamen im Mai zum UN Sekretariat in New York City, um die Konferenz zu beobachten, Lobbyarbeit zu betreiben, mit internationalen Repräsentanten ins Gespräch zu kommen und den Abrüstungsgedanken in der Öffentlichkeit bekannt zu machen durch Proteste, Mahnwachen, Bildungsarbeit und Kunstausstellungen. “Vereint für Frieden und Gerechtigkeit“, eine der großen Friedensgruppenzusammenschlüsse in den USA, organisierten am 1. Mai, dem Eröffnungstag, in New York City eine Demonstration, an der mehr als 40.000 Menschen teilnahmen.

Die Berichterstattungskonferenz war eine gute und wichtige Gelegenheit für die US-Friedensorganisationen, das Anti-Atom-Thema zurück ins Licht der Öffentlichkeit zu tragen. Die Friedensbewegung in den Vereinigten Staaten hatte sich in jüngster Zeit hauptsächlich auf die Beendigung des Kriegs im Irak konzentriert und dabei war das Thema Atomabrüstung in den Hintergrund getreten. Nichtsdestotrotz wissen die Atomabrüstungsgruppen um die neue Dringlichkeit der Aufklärung und Mobilisierung der öffentlichen Meinung gegen die US-Atompolitik.

Auf Grund der Drohung mit Militärschlägen gegen den Iran und Nordkorea durch die Bush-Administration werden die Vereinigten Staaten 2005 sieben Milliarden Dollar ausgeben für die Wartung und Modernisierung ihrer Atomsprengköpfe und um diese für einen Zeitraum, der sich in Dekaden bemisst, einsatzbereit zu halten. Weitere Milliarden werden ausgegeben für die Verbesserung und Modernisierung der Trägersysteme. Insgesamt sind 40 Milliarden US Dollar pro Jahr für die nukleare Rüstung vorgesehen. Zehntausende nuklearer Sprengköpfe – davon 2.000 in sofortiger Abschussbereitschaft - befinden sich im Arsenal der US-Streitkräfte. Einige Mitglieder Bush-Regierung vertreten die Idee, dass es akzeptabel sei, Atomwaffen auch in konventionellen Kriegssituationen einzusetzen.

Viele der bekannten internationalen Abrüstungsgruppen und –kampagnen spielten eine aktive Rolle bei der Organisation der Veranstaltungen und Workshops während der NPT-Berichterstattungskonferenz.
Falls Sie Interesse haben, Abrüstungsgruppen in den Vereinigten Staaten zu kontaktieren, möchten wir Sie auf die Webseiten der Gruppen, die eine führende Rollen bei den Veranstaltungen hatten, hinweisen. Diese Organisationen bestehen aus vielen lokalen Gruppen.

Abolition 2000 (Abschaffung 2000) Kampagne für einen Vertrag zur Abschaffung von Atomwaffen innerhalb eines bestimmten Zeitrahmens.:
www.abolition2000.org

Atomic Mirror (Atomarer Spiegel) Die Gruppe arbeitet mit kreativer Kunst, um die Geheimnisse des Atomzeitalters sichtbar zu machen und verficht ein Verbot von Atomwaffen und Atomenergie.: www.atomicmirror.org

Economists for Peace and Security (Wirtschalftler für Frieden und Sicherheit): www.epsusa.org

Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space (Globales Netzwerk gegen Waffen und Nukleare Kraftwerke im Weltall):
www.space4peace.org

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War - IPPNW (Internationale Ärzte für die Verhütung des Atomkrieges):
www.ippnw.org

Physicians for Social Responsibility –PSR (Ärzte für soziale Verantwortung) Der amerikanische Zweig von IPPNW:
www.psr.org

Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy (Anwälte für nukleare Richtlinien):
www.lcnp.org

Mayors for Peace (Bürgermeister für den Frieden) Diese Kampagne wurde gegründet durch die Bürgermeister von Hiroshima und Nagasaki. Derzeit (Juni 2005) sind 60 amerikanische Städte Mitglieder.: www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/mayors/english

Military Toxics Project (Projekt - Militarisches Gift) US-Organisation, die Menschen vertritt , die durch militärische Kontamination und Umweltvergiftung betroffen sind.:
www.miltoxproj.org

Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (Nuklear-Zeitalter Friedengruppe):
www.wagingpeace.org

Shundahai Network - Gegründet in den Atomtestgebieten in Nevada bestehend aus umweltorientierten, Friedens-, Gerechtigkeitsgemeinschaften und Landrechtsgruppen der Ureinwohner. Sie bekämpfen Forschung, Entwicklung, Testen und Produktion von Atomwaffen.:
www.shundahai.org

Western States Legal Foundation (Juristischee Verband der Westlichen Bundesländer) Organisation zur Beobachtung und Analyse von US-Atomwaffenprogrammen und –politik.:
www.wslfweb.org

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom – WILPF (Internationale Frauenliga für Frieden und Freiheit):
www.wilpf.org/international/default.htm
U.S.-Zweig der WILPF: www.wilpf.org/us-wilpf/default.htm

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Wenn Sie mehr tun wollen

Wenn einer der Berichte Ihr Interesse geweckt hat oder Sie anregt, könnten Sie den Wunsch haben das Gelesene weiter zu verfolgen. Was können Sie tun? Hier sind ein paar Vorschläge:

Mehr erfahren: Sie können damit beginnen, auf die Webseite der Gruppe zu schauen und Links zu anderen Seiten und Gruppen zu verfolgen.

Teilen Sie die Informationen mit anderen: Hat eine der Gruppen, über die Sie gelesen haben, einen ähnlichen Schwerpunkt oder ähnliche Interessen wie eine Gruppe oder Einzelne, mit denen Sie zusammenarbeiten? Bitte geben Sie die Information dann entsprechend weiter! Sie können auch uns über solche Gruppen informieren - wir könnten sie vielleicht mit zusätzlichen Informationen und US-Kontakten versehen. Wir ermutigen Sie auch, diese Information weiter zu verbreiten und sie in andere Sprachen zu übersetzen. Bitte erwähnen Sie Peace Across the Atlantic als Quelle. Bitte lassen Sie uns wissen, wo etwas abgedruckt wurde - oder schicken Sie uns eine Kopie.

Schreiben Sie einen „Fan-Brief“: Wenn Sie auf diesen Seiten über eine bestimmte US-Gruppe lesen und ihre Arbeit anregend finden, schreiben Sie ihnen eine E-Mail und erzählen ihnen das! Wenn Sie können, schreiben Sie in Englisch. Selbst ein kurzer und ganz einfacher Brief wird eine starke Botschaft der Ermutigung sein. Wenn die Post- oder E-Mail-Adresse einer Gruppe hier nicht vermerkt ist, werden Sie sie auf der entsprechenden Webseite finden.

Ihre Vorschläge und Ideen sind sowohl sehr willkommen als auch für uns wichtig. Gibt es Themen die Sie besonderes interessieren? Welche Fragen haben Sie über die USA? Schreiben Sie uns eine E-Mail.

Spenden sind willkommen: Es gibt keine Abonnementsgebühr für Peace Across the Atlantic, aber wir freuen uns über Spenden. Spenden mit dem Vermerk „Brücken“ können an die gemeinnützigen Vereine Friedenskotten Lippinghausen e. V.
Konto Nr. 135 616 400, Volksbank Herford, BLZ Nr. 494 900 70
oder Versöhnungsbund e.V.
Konto 400 906 72, Sparkasse Minden-Lübbecke, BLZ 490 501 01 überwiesen werden.

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WER WIR SIND

Peace Across the Atlantic ist Teil des Netzwerk-Projekts Bridges of Encouragement, das versucht, stärkere Verbindungen zwischen Friedens- und Menschenrechtsaktivisten in den USA einerseits und in Europa und anderen Teilen der Welt andererseits herzustellen. Z.Z. konzentriert sich Bridges of Encouragement darauf, amerikanischen Aktivisten bei ihrem Kampf für Veränderungen der US-Militärpraxis und des Regierungsmissbrauchs der Menschen- und Bürgerrechte Ermutigung anzubieten. Solche Zusammenarbeit wird Friedens- und Menschenrechtsgruppen in Europa ebenfalls stärken.

Peace Across the Atlantic wird erarbeitet und herausgegeben von den Koordinatoren von Bridges of Encouragement, Dorie Wilsnack und Eric Bachman. Dorie und Eric sind US-Amerikaner mit breiter Erfahrung in der deutschen, amerikanischen und internationalen Friedensbewegung. Die Informationen in diesem Rundbrief werden den öffentlichen Berichten der vorgestellten Organisationen entnommen. Dieser kostenlose E-Mail Rundbrief wird monatlich in Deutsch und Englisch herausgegeben. Vorherige Ausgaben verschicken wir gerne auf Anfrage.

Vielen Dank an Winfrid Eisenberg, Elisabeth Hebert, Heike Huschauer, und Davorka Lovrekovic-Sufiar für Ihre ehrenamtliche Übersetzungsarbeit.

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Peace Across the Atlantic
ein Projekt von
Bridges of Encouragement

Dorie Wilsnack and Eric Bachman, Milchstr. 83, D-32120 Hiddenhausen, Germany
Tel: ++ 49-5221-689708 Fax: ++ 49-5221-689741
Email: transnationalbridges (at) gmx.org
ViSdM: Eric Bachman

PEACE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC
News about Grassroots Peace Activities in the USA
Issue No. 4 / 2005

Peace Across the Atlantic (PATA) Number 4 is a much shorter edition than we normally produce. You will find reports on current activities and campaigns, but no special theme. The current reports cover a wide range of topics, from global warming to disarmament to the freedom to read.

The reason for the smaller size is that we, the editors, are moving from Germany to the United States in June 2005 and are immersed in the process of sorting, packing, and storing. Because of the move we will not be producing this newsletter next month but will return with issue number 5 at the end of July.

From our new location in the USA, we will continue to produce Peace Across the Atlantic. Through the Bridges of Encouragement project, we are also planning to initiate other activities aimed at strengthening international ties with U.S. activists. These include helping local groups on both sides of the Atlantic to set up twinning arrangements, activist-in-residency exchange programs, and peace tours in both directions.

We encourage you to forward this issue to friends and colleagues. We also hope you will pass the information along orally. For example, you may be in discussions with friends and colleagues who, after seeing the latest TV or newspaper reports, wonder if any voices for peace are left in the US. This could give you a chance to share with them some of the stories described below.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Recent Campaigns and Actions

Courage in a Small-Town Library
Mothers Day in the U.S. – A Day Against War
156 U.S. Mayors Agree to Follow Kyoto Protocol
Anti-Nuclear Groups at U.N. Disarmament Conference

If You Want To Do More

Who We Are

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RECENT CAMPAIGNS AND ACTIONS

Courage in a Small-Town Library

Joan Airoldi is a librarian and the director of the Whatcom County Rural Library District in Washington State. In June 2004, an FBI agent visited the county's small branch library in Deming, Washington and demanded the names of all library patrons who had borrowed a particular book, Bin Laden: The Man Who Declared War on America. The FBI had been alerted by a reader that someone had written a threatening note in the margin of the book. (Later, through a Internet search with Google, the library's lawyers were able to show that the sentence was a direct quote from a published interview that bin Laden made in 1998.)

Joan Airoldi led the library in its efforts to resist the FBI request. First, the branch library refused to provide the information to the FBI and told the agent that it would not release any information without a court order. Two weeks later, the library received a court order in the form of a Grand Jury subpoena for the names of all the people who had taken the book out since November 2001. [In the U.S., a Grand Jury decides whether to charge a person with a crime. The Grand Jury, chosen from local citizens, has the power to gather any information it deems necessary to make their decision.]

The County Library Board of Directors decided to resist the Grand Jury demand. It made plans to legally challenge the subpoena as an infringement on the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of speech. The Board also decided that it would fight any further subpoenas it received. A month later, it learned that the FBI had withdrawn the court order.

In April 2005, Joan Airoldi and her library received a special First Amendment Award from the PEN American Center, part of PEN International, the well-known literary and human rights organization. They plan to use the $25,000 prize money to establish a foundation that will fund forums and workshops on intellectual freedom.

In giving them the award, which is called the PEN / Newman's Own First Amendment Award, PEN American Center called the actions of Joan and her staff heroic. Hopefully, they will serve as models for other libraries and bookstores to follow if presented with similar demands. In the Whatcom Library case, the FBI went through a Grand Jury to get a subpoena. If the FBI had returned with an order based on the new anti-terror legislation called the U.S. Patriot Act, the library would have been unable to legally challenge the request, and the readers' names would have made their way into the FBI files.

The Patriot Act faces a renewal before the end of 2005. Human rights groups are actively campaigning for the U.S. Congress to delete many of the sections which undermine civil liberties, including those that allow the government to monitor what citizens are reading.

For more information:
www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/810

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002248045_brodeur21m.html

Mothers Day in the U.S. – A Day Against War

Mothers Day in the United States, the first Sunday in May, is a very big holiday. It is said to be the most popular day of the year for long distance telephone calls, and the second biggest day for gift-giving (second only to Christmas). Since 1914, it has been an official U.S. holiday for honoring one's own mother and mothers in general. But the original idea behind Mother's Day was actually an anti-war effort, a call for the mothers of soldiers everywhere to mourn the loss of their sons and to speak out against all war. This May, peace groups in some U.S. communities celebrated Mothers Day by highlighting this original message.

The original idea for a special mothers' day came from Anna Jarvis, a homemaker who lived in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia. In the mid-1800's, she organized women into Mothers Day Work Clubs to improve sanitation conditions in their communities. When the U.S. Civil War began in 1861, theirs was a divided region where the armies of both sides were based. The Mothers Day Clubs decided that they would continue to work as a single unit, no matter which side their sons and husbands were fighting on. When typhoid fever broke out among the soldiers, they were then asked to care for the sick in both armies. After the war ended, Anna was asked by local politicians to help with reconciliation. She organized Mothers' Friendship Day in her county, and a powerful reconciliation ceremony took place among the previously warring families.

A few years later, a well-known writer named Julia Ward Howe, who was inspired by the work of Anna Jarvis, issued a public call for a Mothers Day for Peace. Earlier, during the Civil War, she had visited soldiers' camps and seen the death and maiming firsthand. She had also worked with the widows on both sides and this led her to realize that the effects of war went far beyond the killing of soldiers. In 1870, she learned that a new war had started - the Franco-Prussian War - and she saw the tragedy repeating itself. She issued a proclamation where she called for women to rise up and oppose war in all forms, and she called for the formal recognition of a Mothers Day for Peace. Unfortunately, her effort was not successful. Many years later, the daughter of Anna Jarvis (also named Anna Jarvis) was able to campaign successfully for an official Mothers Day holiday, but in the process, the day was changed from a protest against war to a celebration of motherhood.

Now, many peace and women's groups are trying to bring back the original meaning to the day. On May 11, the Norfolk, Virginia Peace Coalition held their Third Annual Mothers Day Rally for Peace and Justice. In Denton, Texas, there was a Mothers Day Picnic for Peace. In Charlotte, North Carolina, people held a Mothers Day vigil, to “reclaim and honor the original purpose of the day.” In Northern California, the Peninsula Raging Grannies (See Raging Grannies in PATA Issue No. 1) staged a costumed re-enactment of Julia Ward Howe reciting her Mothers' Day Proclamation. The Mothers Day Proclamation was distributed widely in peace publications and over the Internet. 135 years after it was written, the words of the Proclamation remain relevant and important.

For more information: www.peace.ca/mothersdayproclamation.htm

If you would like the Julia Ward Howe's “Mothers Day Proclamation” in German, please contact us.

156 U.S. Mayors Agree to Follow Kyoto Protocol

156 mayors of United States cities have formed an unusual new environmental coalition. They have all agreed to fight global warming at the local level by trying to meet the Kyoto Protocol in their own cities. Their action stands in contradiction with the U.S. government decision to pull out of the Kyoto Agreement, claiming that such an agreement would be bad for the American economy. These mayors, both Democrats and Republicans, think that climate change is a far greater threat to the economy of their cities and that something must be done about it now.

Their agreement, called the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, states that the mayors will strive to meet or exceed the Kyoto Protocol targets by taking actions in their own operations and communities. Each of them has made a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their respective cities by 2012, to levels 7 % below those of 1990. The Agreement also urges the federal and state governments to do the same. The Agreement includes 12 possible actions that the city governments can take, such as promoting alternative transportation options, purchasing only energy-efficient equipment and appliances for a city's use, and enforcing land use policies that reduce urban sprawl.

The Agreement was initiated by the mayor of Seattle, Greg Nickels, in February 2005, when the Kyoto Protocol went into effect. Along with nine other mayors, he sent a letter to over 400 other mayors, asking them to join the Agreement. So far 156 mayors have signed on; they come from 37 states and represent 32 million citizens. (as of June 1, 2005)

Many of the mayors who signed are feeling the direct effects of global warming in their communities. Greg Nickels was concerned about Seattle's recent series of dry winters and the decline of glaciers in a nearby mountain range, which could affect the city's supply of drinking water and hydroelectric power. For the mayors from New Orleans. Louisiana, and Alexandria, Virginia, the concern focuses on the increased threat of flooding. The mayor from Bellevue Nebraska said he signed on because of concerns about droughts on his farming community.

To meet the Kyoto Protocol standards, the mayors have committed their cities to conduct inventories of global warming emissions in city operations, set reduction goals and create an action plan. The actions they choose differ from place to place. For example, Seattle is now requiring the many cruise ships to turn off their diesel engines while docking at their ports and to only use electric power provided by the city. Salt Lake City has become the largest buyer of wind power in the state of Utah.

This action by US mayors is a hopeful sign that at the local government level, people are beginning to recognize the inter-relationship between environmental health and a society's well being.

For more information: www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/climate/

The full text of the Agreement will be found at: www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/climate/cpaText.htm

A list of all the mayors who have signed the Agreement will be found at: www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/climate/quotes.htm#mayors

An article in the New York Times about the Agreement: www.nytimes.com/2005/05/14/national/14kyoto.html
(There is a small fee for articles over 1 week old.)

Anti-Nuclear Groups at UN Disarmament Conference

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) is a landmark international treaty with the objective of preventing the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology. It came into force in 1970, and had 188 signatory countries, including the five major nuclear weapons states. It has been a cornerstone in global efforts at nuclear disarmament. Part of the Treaty requires a review conference to take place every five years. The “2005 Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on NPT” took place at the United Nations in New York throughout the month of May.

The Review Conference is not only a gathering of all the governments that signed the Treaty, but also a focal point for anti-nuclear activists from around the world. Hundreds came to the U.N. Headquarters in New York City during the month of May to monitor the Conference, to lobby and speak with international representatives, and to promote disarmament to the public through protests, vigils, educational workshops and art shows. United for Peace and Justice, one of the large peace coalitions in the U.S., organized a demonstration of more than 40,000 people in New York City on the opening day, May 1.

For American peace organizations, the Review Conference was an important opportunity to bring anti-nuclear issues back into the public spotlight. In recent years, peace groups have concentrated primarily on ending the war in Iraq, so concerns about nuclear disarmament have taken a “back seat.” However, nuclear disarmament campaigners are feeling a new urgency to educate and mobilize public opinion against US nuclear weapons policy.

While the Bush Administration is threatening actions against Iran and Korea for their possible nuclear programs, the United States is planning to spend nearly $7 billion in 2005 to maintain and modernize its own nuclear warheads, keeping them usable for decades to come. Many billions of dollars more will be spent to operate and modernize their means of delivery. Altogether, the United States spends about $40 billion a year on its nuclear forces. Ten thousand nuclear warheads — two thousand on hair-trigger alert — remain in the U.S. arsenal. Some members of the Bush government are also promoting the idea that it would be acceptable to use nuclear weapons in conventional war situations.

Many well-known international disarmament coalitions and campaigns took an active role in organizing events and workshops alongside the NPT Review Conference. Below, we have listed the web sites for many of organizations that took a leadership role in these events. This included many U.S. groups and international coalitions, which have local U.S groups in their membership.

Abolition 2000
Campaign for treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons within time-bound framework.
www.abolition2000.org

Atomic Mirror
Uses the creative arts to reveal the secrets of the nuclear age, and to advocate for the abolition of nuclear weapons and power.
www.atomicmirror.org

Economists for Peace and Security
www.epsusa.org

Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space
www.space4peace.org

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
www.ippnw.org

U.S. Branch of IPPNW (Physicians for Social Responsibility)
www.psr.org

Lawyers Committee for Nuclear Policy
www.lcnp.org

Mayors for Peace
Campaign has been initiated by the mayors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
There are currently 60 U.S. cities that are members of the campaign.
www.pcf.city.hiroshima.jp/mayors/english

Military Toxics Project
U.S. organization representing people affected by military contamination and pollution.
www.miltoxproj.org

Nuclear Age Peace Foundation
www.wagingpeace.org

Shundahai Network
Founded at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. This is a coalition of environmental, peace, justice, and indigenous land rights communities. They oppose nuclear weapons research, development, testing and production.
www.shundahai.org

Western States Legal Foundation
Organization monitoring and analyzing U.S. nuclear weapons programs and policies.
www.wslfweb.org

Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
www.wilpf.org/international/default.htm
U.S. Branch: www.wilpf.org/us-wilpf/default.htm

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IF YOU WANT TO DO MORE

If one of the descriptions above triggers your interest or inspires you, you may want to follow up on what you read. What can you do? Here are a few suggestions:

Learn more: You can start by looking at the group's web site and following links to other web sites and organizations.

Share the information: Do you know organizations in your community that have a similar focus to one of the groups you read about? Please pass the information on to them. You are encouraged to republish this information and to translate it into other languages. Please mention Peace Across the Atlantic as the source. Please let us know where it has been republished (or send us a copy).

Write a “fan letter”: If you read about a particular U.S. group in these pages, and you find their work inspiring, send them an email and tell them so! Write your message in English if you can. Even a very short and simple letter will carry a powerful message of encouragement. If a group's postal or email address is not included in our description, you will find it on their web site.

Your feedback and suggestions are both welcome and important. Are there particular types of peace or human rights groups that you would like to learn more about? You can email us your suggestions.

You can make a donation to help us continue to keep you and others informed about peace and human rights efforts in the United States. Transfer a donation to one of the banks accounts below: (Mark “for BRIDGES ”)

Friedenskotten Lippinghausen e. V.
Account No. 135 616 400, Volksbank Herford, BLZ Nr. 494 900 70
or
Versöhnungsbund e.V.
Account No. 400 906 72, Sparkasse Minden-Lübbecke, BLZ 490 501 01

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WHO WE ARE

Peace Across the Atlantic is one part of a networking project called Bridges of Encouragement, which seeks to build stronger ties between peace and human rights activists in the United States and activists in Europe and other parts of the world. Currently Bridges of Encouragement focuses on efforts that will offer encouragement and support to American activists as they struggle to change U.S. military practices and government abuses of human rights and civil liberties. Such cooperative and collaborative activities will strengthen peace and human rights groups in every country.

Peace Across the Atlantic is researched and edited by the Coordinators of Bridges of Encouragement, Dorie Wilsnack and Eric Bachman. Dorie and Eric are U.S. Americans with extensive experience in the German, U.S. and international peace movements. The information in this newsletter is derived from public reports of the organizations described. This email newsletter is published once a month, in German and English. Back issues are available by request.

Many thanks to Winfrid Eisenberg , Elisabeth Hebert, Heike Huschauer, Davorka Lovrekovic-Sufiar; and who volunteered their time to translate this issue into German.

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Bridges of Encouragement

Dorie Wilsnack and Eric Bachman
Milchstr. 83, D-32120 Hiddenhausen, Germany
Tel: ++ 49-5221-689708 Fax: ++ 49-5221-689741
Email: transnationalbridges (at) gmx.org

Dear Colleagues:

It is still possible to sign up for the upcoming 2005 AFTA-IFTA International Conference on Family Therapy in Washington, DC June 22-25, 2005. Please see the program on www.afta-ifta2005.org.

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

Am Sonntag, den 26. Juni lädt AfricAvenir in Kooperation mit der INISA und dem South African Club um 17.15 Uhr zu einer Filmvorführung mit anschließender Diskussion ins Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe ein. Gezeigt wird der Spielfilm „Aristotle’s Plot“ des kamerunischen Regisseurs Jean-Pierre Bekolo. Im Anschluss findet eine Diskussion mit dem Regisseur statt.

Jean-Pierre Bekolo, 1996, Zimbabwe/Kamerun, 72 min., Engl. OF m. frz. U

Aristotle’s Plot ist einer der ungewöhnlichsten afrikanischen Filme der letzten Jahrzehnte. Postmodern, städtisch, ironisch, hybrid – eine bitterböse Satire über Hollywoods Macht im heutigen Afrika und über Authentizität im afrikanischen Film.

Neben so namhaften Regisseuren wie Martin Scorsese, Jean-Luc Godard, Stephen Frears und Bernardo Bertolucci wurde der Kameruner Jean-Pierre Bekolo vom British Film Institute auserwählt, 100 Jahren Filmgeschichte in einem Film zu reflektieren. Heraus gekommen ist eine fiktive und sarkastische Allegorie über die Bedeutung von Film im heutigen Afrika, in der sich die Vertreter der Authentizität und die Hollywood-Konsumenten in einem absurden Western-ähnlichen Szenario gegenüber stehen.

1997 Winner Prized Pieces Film Awards, Pittsburgh USA, The National Black Programming Consortium

Jean-Pierre Bekolo lehrt an der Duke University, Programm für Film/Video/Digital. Er ist in Kamerun geboren und aufgewachsen und hat früh Erfahrungen bei nationalen Fernsehsendern gesammelt. 1989 wandert er nach Kanada aus. Mit 25 Jahren macht er seinen ersten Spielfilm ‚Quartier Mozart’, der u.a. in Cannes den ‚Prix Afrique en Création’ erhält. Im Augenblick dreht er seinen nächsten Spielfilm ‚Les Saignantes’ und schreibt an einem Buch über Filmtheorie.

Am: Sonntag, den 26. Juni 2005, 17.15 Uhr
Ort: Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41, 10178 Berlin)
Vorbestellung unter: 030 - 2 83 46 03 (MO-SA ab 14.30 Uhr/SO ab 10.30 Uhr)
Eintrittspreis: 5 Euro

ARISTOTLE’S PLOT (1996, Zimbabwe/Cameroon, 71 min.), directed by Jean-Pierre Bekolo; screenplay by Bekolo; cinematography by Regis Blondeau; music by Jean-Claude Petit; with Albee Lesotho (Essomba Tourneur, the Cinéaste), Ken Gampu (Policeman), Siputla Sebogodi (Cinema), Anthony Levendale (Bruce Lee), Dylan Wilson-Max (Cobra), Rudo Hamudikwnda (Nikita), Brian Masamba (Saddam), Marco Machona (Schwarzenegger), Stanford Bennett (Van Damme), Michael Heard (African American), Walter Muparitsa (Police Chief), Somon Shuma (Barman). In English.

Why are African filmmakers always asked political questions? Where is the Black Man today? Are they all to be Nelson Mandela? Can Nelson Mandela make a film? Why are African filmmakers always “young”, “upcoming,” “promising,” “emerging,” “developing,” until they are eighty years old and then suddenly they become “the ancestor,” “the father,” “the wise role model”?

The film reflects the young director’s refusal to be pigeon-holed as a maker of “traditional” films set in a rural setting. This is what the West looks for in films from Africa, and, while he admires such films, they do not speak for his reality. He wants to make movies that reflect the hybrid reality of contemporary young urban Africans, for whom the struggle to find an identity IS their reality. He is not interested in telling dramatic stories à la Aristotle; rather, he wants to make films that are self-reflexive subversions of the Aristotelian conventions of linear narrative, mimetic realism, conflict rising to a climax, and catharsis (the purging of inner emotions by means of identifying with fictional characters and eliciting feelings of fear and pity). He wants to make films in which the spectator is always kept thinking, aware that s/he is watching a fiction, and wondering what it all means. He is much closer to the European avant-garde tradition of a Godard than t o a Sembène, though like Sembène he is constantly thinking about his identity as an African. If he has an African model, it would be the late Djibril Diop Mambéty (director of Touki Bouki and Hyenas), to whom this film is partly dedicated.

The film partly operates on the level of “story,” but only minimally. Much of the experience comes from the sound-track–from the lyrics to songs and, more importantly, Bekolo’s voice-over narration. As we try to put all the pieces together, the plot turns back on itself, scenes are repeated, characters prance around like the pawns and symbols that they are.

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich at africavenir.org

Redaktion des Newsletters: Eric Van Grasdorff, e.vangrasdorff at africavenir.org
AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich.

INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY OF LINGUISTIC LAW
ACADÉMIE INTERNATIONALE DE DROIT LINGUISTIQUE
Galway, Ireland, and Montréal, Canada, June 15th, 2005

CALL FOR PAPERS

First Circular (for immediate release)

The Tenth International Conference on Language and Law of the International Academy of Linguistic Law – LANGUAGE LAW AND LANGUAGE RIGHTS: THE CHALLENGES OF ENACTMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION – will take place from June 14th to June 17th 2006 (Wednesday-Saturday), in Galway, Ireland in co-operation with Acadamh na hOllscolaíochta Gaeilge (the Academy for Irish-medium Studies), the Irish Centre for Human Rights and the Dept. of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs. The Conference will be held on campus at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

The working languages of the Conference will be Irish, English and French.

The Scientific Committee of the Conference is formed by Prof. Bill Schabas, Dr. Joshua Castellino, Joe Mac Donnacha, Dr. Peadar Ó Flatharta and Dónal Ó Riagáin (Ireland) and Profs. Denise Daoust, Angéline Martel, André Braen, Joseph-G. Turi and José Woehrling (Canada).

For more information concerning registration, accommodation and to send abstracts of proposed papers, please contact directly as soon as possible the Galway Committee at the following address: iall-confer at nuigalway.ie tel.: 00 353 91 495217; fax: 00 353 91 495568.

A copy of each abstract must also be sent to the Canadian Committee at the following address: IALL-AIDL; suite J-4; 6000, chemin Deacon; Montréal (Québec); Canada H3S 2T9. E-mail: academy.all at attglobal.net; website: www.iall-aidl.org; tel.: 1+ (514) 345-0718; fax: 1+ (514) 345-0860.

Abstracts of papers (200-400 words) should be sent before December 31, 2005. The topics of the conference shall include:
• Linguistic rights and legislation.
• Language rights in the constitutions of the world
• Language Planning and Human rights
• The politics of languages and rights
• Linguistics rights as third generation rights
• Multilingualism and linguistic rights - The right to language diversity
• Indigenous languages and minorities rights
• Linguistic minorities, lesser use languages, endangered languages and human rights
• Language rights before the courts and the law
• Language rights in education
• The language of law

The registration fee (in euros) is €150 for participants registered before 31 January 2006 and €200 for participants registered after that date. The fee for students will be €100 and €150 respectively.

Volume 9 of "The Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler - Case
Histories" brings together three of Adler's books on case histories:
"Problems of Neurosis," "The Case of Mrs. A.," and "The Case of Miss
R." Although these books were previously published in English, the
text required substantial editing for readability. Adler's diagnostic
brilliance now shines through without the distractions of dated
terminology and awkward phrasing.

Adler takes us on a fascinating journey of life style analysis through
progressive levels of depth. In "Problems of Neurosis," he offers us
vivid thumbnail sketches of thirty-three cases, spanning the symptoms
of depression, obsession, compulsion, alcoholism, schizophrenia,
clairvoyance, agoraphobia, impotence, sadism, masochism, and jealousy.
He also discusses the general topics of family constellation, earliest
recollections, body postures, sleep postures, organ dialect, and
hypnosis.

In "The Case of Mrs. A.," Adler takes us a little deeper into a single
style of life. Working from the notes presented by another physician,
he spontaneously comments on each segment of information offered to
him: making conjectures, then testing them as he clearly illustrates
the coherence of a style of life.

"The Case of Miss R." takes us into yet deeper waters. This
autobiographical narrative of a young working-class woman was
strikingly frank about her sexual awakening in early twentieth-century
Vienna. Adler's artful evolution of a unified psychological portrait
is compelling to follow, as he weaves all of the early family
influences and social conditions into a beautiful, vivid tapestry.

Volume 9 is a "must read" for anyone interested in the art of life
style analysis. His remarkable theory springs to life in this superb
series of richly varied case histories.

To order your copy of Volume 9, go to
http://go.ourworld.nu/hstein/cwaa-v9.htm.

==============================================
Henry T. Stein, Ph.D., Director
Alfred Adler Institutes of San Francisco & Northwestern Washington
Distance Training in Classical Adlerian Psychotherapy
Web site: http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/hstein/
E-mail: HTStein at att.net
Tel: (360) 647-5670

The friendly dragon
Pallavi Aiyar
The Indian Express
Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Let China sleep, for when she awakes, the world will tremble,’’ said Napoleon famously, and indeed as the sleeping giant rouses, tremors are being felt throughout the world. From East to West, the seemingly inexorable rise of the Middle Kingdom, is drawing other nations to it, as a model for development, source and destination for investment and trading partner. The fear and distrust with which many used to regard the mainland is increasingly being replaced by admiration, so that from Vietnam to India, through to far away Brazil, China is now being seen as presenting more of an opportunity than a threat.
Growing apace with its rising economic and diplomatic strength is Beijing’s cultural clout or soft power. Soft power, a term coined by Harvard professor Joseph Nye, refers to a country’s ability to influence others by the attractiveness of its ideas and values. For decades it is a term that has primarily been associated with the US, given the ability of Hollywood glamour and Mickey Mouse cuteness to attract across borders and the importance of English as a global language.

However, as in the economic and political realms, the supremacy of US soft power is gradually being challenged by the might of Chinese culture and language. Across Asia, China’s cultural power is on display, exported through linguistic and gastronomic ties and consolidated through its overseas communities. Chinese tourism is burgeoning and it is visitors from the mainland, rather than Japan that now constitute the dominant tourist group in Southeast Asia. Chinese cinema, art and traditional medicine are all booming globally.

The escalating popularity of Mandarin Chinese is a case in point. Chinese is already the most spoken language in the world, with three times as many native speakers as English. Far from being geographically restricted to China’s immediate neighbourhood, its spread across the globe is being ensured by the Chinese diaspora. Thus, for example, Chinese is now the third most spoken language in Canada, following English and French. It is widely predicted that within a decade or so Mandarin will have overtaken English as the most used language on the Internet.

According to the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (NOCFL) in Beijing, there are approximately 30 million people learning Chinese around the world and it is the mainland’s stated purpose to ensure that this number grows to 100 million by 2007. Currently, more than 2,300 universities in nearly 100 countries offer courses in Chinese and thousands are flocking to China’s shores in the hope of mastering the language. There are now more foreign students in China (estimated at over 86,000) than Chinese students abroad.

Not surprisingly, interest in the HSK, a standardised exam to test proficiency in Chinese, similar to the TOEFL test for English, has surged. From 2000, when only some 4,500 people appeared for the exam, the number of test takers leaped to almost 22,000 in 2004. Significantly, the profile of those taking the HSK has also changed from comprising largely academics and linguists to include large numbers of entrepreneurs and white-collar professionals.

Driving this boom in learning Mandarin is the perception of the economic opportunities that China offers and a concomitant sense that the future firmly belongs in the Middle Kingdom’s hands. Indeed, multinational businesses across the mainland now routinely require foreign employees in China to be fluent in Mandarin.

Choo Shuo Yen, a Singaporean student currently studying International Relations in Beijing, observes the sea change in attitude towards Mandarin that has taken place in Singapore over the last few years. ‘‘In the ’70s, it was all about English because our government saw English as the most important language of the future,’’ he says. As a result many Singaporeans, even those of Chinese ethnicity, could no longer communicate adequately in Chinese. ‘‘But now, it’s slowly being seen as a disadvantage to not be fluent in Mandarin,’’ says Shuo Yen. Thus, last year the official language policy of Singapore was reformed to place greater emphasis on Chinese. Adds Shuo Yen, ‘‘It’s not only ethnic Chinese, but even Malays and Indians who are taking a greater interest in learning Mandarin.’’

That the Chinese authorities see language as a foundational pillar in the projection of soft power is evident from a recent statement made by the Chinese Vice Minister for Education, Zhang Xinzheng at a conference in Beijing. Zhang said, ‘‘The demand for a language represents the country’s overall national power and image in the world. More importantly, it forecasts the country’s future.’’

And to ensure that the demand for Mandarin continues to grow, Beijing is planning to establish a series of ‘‘Confucius Institutes’’ to promote the teaching of Chinese language and culture abroad. Agreements to establish these institutes have already been reached with countries as diverse as the United States, Uzbekistan, Kenya and Sweden.

It remains unlikely that Mandarin Chinese will replace English as a global lingua franca. Mandarin has four tones and thousands of characters, making it difficult to master. And while millions are now learning it as a second language, the numbers pale in comparison to those learning English, an estimated 375 million in China alone.

Nonetheless, there seems no denying the increasing muscularity of China’s soft power that both reinforces and results from the country’s economic rise. China is now the third largest film producer in the world, after the United States and India. Mainland directors like Zhang Yimou and actress Zhang Zi Yi, whose film Hero made for very happy box-offices around the globe last year, have become household names. Chinese influence on directing style and camera work on Hollywood films is visible from blockbusters like The Matrix and Kill Bill. The latter, star director Quentin Tarrantino’s latest movie, was in fact partly filmed in Beijing.

Last year, as France celebrated the official ‘‘Year of China in France’’, the Eiffel Tower was bedecked with red lights and silk lanterns to celebrate the Chinese New Year. It would require a fertile imagination indeed to imagine the French celebrating the Fourth of July with similar enthusiasm. America might still be the world’s greatest power, but with its continued focus on the war on terrorism and blunt ‘‘you-are-either-with-us-or-against-us’’ tone, it’s ironically China, despite its authoritarian political system, that is being able to project a comparatively soft touch.


URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=72614

The impact of asymmetries
In search of respect at the table: Hamas ceasefires 2001-03
Alastair Crooke
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/18.shtml

Source: Reuters/Mohammed Salem
Khaled Meshaal, Head of the Political Committee of Hamas, interview on BBC Newsnight, 13 December 2004.

Alastair Crooke served as adviser on security issues to European Union (EU) High Representative Javier Solana and was instrumental in facilitating various ceasefires between 2002 and 2003 in the Israeli-Palestinian context. He was an intermediary on behalf of the EU in facilitating the Hudna (truce) of June 2003.

"Negotiating without resistance leads to surrender. But negotiating with resistance leads to real peace...the world understood that the Vietnamese resistance had to continue whilst the Vietnamese were negotiating with the American Administration in Paris".

Islam and Arab custom have a long history of conflict resolution through ceasefire and truce as a step toward peace. All of the traditional Islamic and tribal methods begin alike – with talking. Unless one of the parties is simply suing for peace in the wake of overwhelming defeat, all Islamist factions subscribe to the wisdom that a 'just' outcome – that is, one that has legitimacy and therefore may endure – can only be achieved when both parties to a conflict arrive at the table treating the other as an adversary worthy of respect.

This search for 'justness' within conflict resolution in the Palestinian context is not confined to the Islamist groups such as Hamas and Jihad; but the more secular movements such as Fateh or the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), although alive to such traditions, tend to an approach that leans more towards engaging a third party and international public opinion as the counterweight to a lack of symmetry. For Islamist movements, third parties can play some compensating role, but this can never fully act as a corrective to a situation in which one of the parties to a negotiation perceives itself treated with disdain or a without the respect owing to a worthy adversary.

In some respects this view reflects Senator George Mitchell's 'first rule' of conflict resolution: unless each party to a dispute acknowledges and accepts that the 'Other' has an argument for their side to advance, there can be no resolution. Armed Islamist groups in the Palestinian arena have been engaged in not only asserting that there is a valid Palestinian 'case', but also in attempting to achieve Israeli 'respect' through resistance. Islamist groups' effort to find this grudging esteem and some parity has been adversely affected both by the dehumanization and de-legitimization of the cause of both parties by the other as a result of violence, and by proscription in the international arena.

Of course Hamas and the other Islamist factions understand that there will never be parity in terms of military power, but at the same time they have the example of Hizbollah, which is perceived in Lebanon and Syria as having achieved a 'parity of deterrence or fear' with Israel. The perception is that Israel has absolute air superiority and greater firepower, but understands Hizbollah possesses the rockets and weaponry in south Lebanon to drive the north of Israel into the air raid shelters were it to choose to retaliate. In short, parity is not conceived as absolute. Palestinian groups such as Hamas understand that Hizbollah's successful resistance in south Lebanon has caused Israel's military to treat Hizbollah with caution, as a respected foe. Israeli armed forces do not take action against Hizbollah lightly. Hamas has sought to emulate the respect in which Hizbollah is held by Israel. The Islamist movements understand that there cannot not be parity in each compartment such as weaponry, air power and so on; but, provided that there is some perceived 'parity' of esteem between parties to the conflict, then and only then is there the prospect of achieving a 'just' and durable outcome.

Ceasefires 2001-03

The principal object of the various ceasefires mounted by the various Palestinian factions from 2001 until 2003 was essentially to test Israeli readiness to engage in a serious political process that would lead to a Palestinian state on the basis of the 1967 borders. Unilateral attempts at military de-escalation had not been attempted earlier as the outset of Oslo period had been characterized by Fateh attempting to capitalize on its monopoly of power and control of security. Oslo effectively licensed the transformation of the militia of a single faction (Fateh) into the official organs of the Palestinian National Authority police and national security in order to control and ultimately destroy its political rivals. Well before the time of the last Intifada, this mandate for Fateh to suppress its rivals had eroded as a result of a shift of public support in the Palestinian Territories towards the Islamists.

There were other considerations that prompted the ceasefire efforts of 2001-03. The civilian population of both communities was periodically experiencing Intifada fatigue and morale dips in response to what has been called 'Fourth Generation' warfare. Fourth Generation warfare really is no more than the modern evolution of insurgency, but has been well summarized as:

...widely dispersed and largely undefined; the distinction between war and peace [becoming] blurred to the vanishing point...nonlinear, possibly to the point of having no definable battlefields or fronts...[and] distinctions between "civilian" and "military" disappearing; actions [occurring] concurrently throughout all participants' depth, including their society as a cultural, [and] not just a physical, entity.

(William S. Lind et al. 'The changing face of war: into the fourth generation' Marine Corps Gazette, October 1989).

Fluid asymmetrical insurgency of this type, which was incorporated into some aspects of the second Palestinian Intifada, is aimed at undermining the psychological steadfastness of the opponent. Its deliberately uneven tempo also affords the irregular forces more flexibility to test the political waters without experiencing adverse political consequences from their supporters. A change in an already uneven tempo does not imply concession or defeat.

For the EU and for some within the US Administration, de-escalation of violence was one of Senator Mitchell's three key linked components towards a resolution of the conflict, which he summarized as "reduce violence, build confidence and begin talking". In this aspect the Mitchell Report ran concurrently with Islamic norms of conflict resolution. For the Islamists a Hudna (a period during which military activities are suspended in order to allow a peace process to proceed) held a particular attraction because there was no implied return to the status quo ante: that is, in their perception it carried no implied return to the Oslo approach by which Hamas and other groups were to be dismantled or destroyed. It also opened political space vis-à-vis Fateh. Here were Islamists taking their own independent political initiative.

Israel throughout the period of attempted ceasefires remained ambivalent on whether or not to encourage the Hudna until after August 2003, when the Hudna declared on 29 June ended with a bus bomb in Jerusalem and the subsequent targeted killing of Hamas leader abu-Shanab in Gaza. Israel then pressed for Hamas to be internationally proscribed and isolated. Although proscription by the European Union, a move that divided Europeans, carried little practical import for Hamas in terms of finance or activities, it further isolated and marginalized them from the political process. More seriously from Hamas' perspective it gave the 'green light' to Israel to try to assassinate their leadership.

Before the EU proscription, some Israeli officials and military officers (e.g. Efraim Halevy, a security adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister) had argued the benefit of co-opting Hamas and the Islamists into the political framework, because they had seen the consequences of the Islamists' exclusion on the efforts of Colin Powell, George Tenet and Anthony Zinni to try to resurrect the earlier security commitments by Fateh at the outset of the Oslo era. They also understood that inclusion of Hamas was necessary to bring an end to conflict.

Other Israeli officials however argued that Hamas was not capable of transformation into a political party by virtue of its nature as an Islamist movement. This hostility to the religious aspect, in contrast to the more secular Fateh, also coloured the attitude of the US and some Europeans. Some secular Europeans too had misgivings about the wisdom of accommodating religious movements. These misgivings persisted despite the evidence of polls which showed that Islamism was no longer optional to the equation, no marginal phenomenon; Hamas was mainstream. Perhaps of greater weight for some Israelis however was the value of harnessing the 'war on terror' to portray Israel as engaging in a wider conflict with Islamic extremism rather than a political struggle over disputed territory.

Similar disquiets also affected the Egyptian mediation efforts. For Egypt, the baggage of their own repression of the Muslim Brotherhood weighed heavily. They were concerned that tacit endorsement and any legitimizing of Palestinian Islamists might be seized on by their own Islamists and exploited. Consequently, their approach was circumscribed by the framework of the domestic political objective of containment of Egyptian Islamism as well as their approach towards Israel and the Palestinians.

The result of this accumulated ambivalence was that the unilateral efforts of four de-escalation initiatives (2 June–9 Aug 2001, 16 December–17 January 2002, 19 September–21 October 2002 and 29 June–19 August 2003) in which Hamas participated provoked no efforts at establishing a framework of reciprocity that was detailed and understood by both parties. Israeli security forces continued to kill Palestinian civilians, make incursions into Palestinian areas and demolish houses during the periods of significant de-escalation by the Palestinians. In the last Hudna in June 2003, the number of civilian Palestinian deaths caused by Israeli military forces did reduce significantly. However arrests of Palestinians rose fourfold, and there were continued targeted killings.

Missed opportunities

Israel's failure to define or to practice reciprocity was probably the principal trigger of the Islamists' decision to return to armed operations. Both Egypt and the EU made some efforts to obtain reciprocity, but neither succeeded. Israel for policy reasons remained adamantly opposed to entering any Grapes of Wrath type of reciprocal agreement (an agreement between Israel and the groups in Lebanon that defined the military operational activities of both parties) with the factions. Israel was concerned that such a step could lead to limitations on its freedom of military action and open the door to internationalization of the conflict (in the form of non-US third-party involvement in monitoring or negotiating any elements of any agreement affecting Israel's relationship with the Palestinians). There were two other principal causes of the truce breakdowns however: the failure to provide any 'feel-good' factor to the Palestinian public that could sustain the momentum towards complete ceasefire and the failure of the international community to use these de-escalations to develop any political dynamic.

The failure to develop political dynamic stemmed principally from the refusal of European nations and of the US to acknowledge or accept the breakdown of legitimacy and credibility of the Oslo process. The Mitchell Report had already signalled in 2002 that for both publics involved there was a crisis of confidence in the incremental Oslo approach. This acknowledgement would have required the international community to consider how to recoup that lost credibility of both the Oslo process as well as that of Palestinian institutions themselves.

The external actors were not alone in their difficulties. The second Intifada had so weakened and divided Fateh that it too found it difficult to accommodate Hamas and the other groups politically without calling into question the monopoly of authority and the position of interlocutor granted to them by Oslo. Consistently throughout this period, Fateh failed to discuss the key issues of defining national objectives, the appropriate tools by which to achieve them and the leadership required to pursue them with Hamas and the other factions for fear that it could unravel their special status as the 'legitimate' authority. The inability of any Fateh leader to do this was also of course bound up with the evolution of the movement itself. Fateh was having great difficulty in accommodating its own 'younger' generations, let alone other factions. Paradoxically, it was Hamas that proved better placed than Fateh to manage negotiations. Throughout the talks in Cairo it was plain that Hamas had a leadership that was sophisticated and operated to a clear mandate.

One obvious way to respond to these challenges was to encourage accommodation within the Palestinian constituency and to emphasize elections as the tool to revalidate and find some Palestinian consensus on means and objectives. Western prejudices against non-secular politics and groups that used violence for political ends however led to hesitations. It required also that external actors be plain in arguing that Palestinian unity was a positive objective not only for Palestinians, but for Israel too. The mindset of Oslo was too ingrained for many to feel comfortable making this case. The West felt more at ease with secular interlocutors and a 'crack-down' on 'rejectionists'. This essentially was the Tenet (Work Plan of 2001) and Zinni (ceasefire proposal of March 2002) response: let us revert to the status quo ante commitments of a process, the breakdown of which was a principal cause of the violence, and only then – once recommitted to that which had failed – can talks begin. It did not work.

There would always be some rejectionists in both camps to any outcome, but if that outcome was validated by the bulk of Palestinians and gained a critical mass of popular support from the public, then there would be some prospect of consolidating progress.

The hostility of the West however, with its 'war on terror' rhetoric of demonization and isolation of Islamist groups has left Islamists cynical and radicalized. The proscription and isolation of the Islamists has heightened the sense of asymmetry of the process and the 'unjustness' of the West's perceived bias toward the stronger party – Israel. Europeans and Americans remain vacillating between the pragmatic understanding of the need for inclusiveness and effective reduction in violence; and a fear that to engage fully along this path might muddle the black and white principles of the 'war on terror', leaving the West with unravelling policies. But for anyone looking for a durable end to conflict, inclusiveness and legitimacy are two elements for which any amount of top-down Western pressure are unlikely to substitute.

NEW Accord issue and policy brief

Choosing to engage:
Armed groups and peace processes

THE FULL TEXT IS AVAILABLE FREE ON LINE (http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/index.shtml) OR CAN BE ORDERED IN PRINT FROM CR (See below)

Non-state armed groups are central figures in many of the world's internal armed conflicts. Their objectives and use of violence spark deep controversy about appropriate responses to their actions, particularly in the context f the global 'war on terror'. Yet in the last two decades armed groups have participated in peace processes on every continent, resulting in a wealth of experiences of dialogue and peace negotiation involving state actors, civil society groups, foreign governments and multilateral organizations.

This Accord issue draws on these experiences to explore the case for engagement with armed groups and lessons learned from peacemaking practice. Highlighting both the opportunities and challenges of this approach, it suggests that the diversity of engagement options and potential interveners makes a strong argument for greater commitment to engagement by all stakeholders. The publication combines the voices of armed groups, governments and intermediaries for a rich and varied set of perspectives on five key issues: the challenge of understanding armed groups; armed groups' choices about peacemaking; political and humanitarian engagement options; the roles of governmental and non-governmental actors; and the impact of asymmetries in a state-based international system. With case studies from twelve countries complementing analytical overviews of these issues, Choosing to engage: armed groups and peace processes highlights important lessons and good practice for future peacemaking efforts involving armed groups.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The publication is now available in full in web format from the CR web site www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/index.shtml and includes the following articles:

Introduction
Robert Ricigliano
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/01.shtml

The case for engagement
An interview with President Carter
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/02.shtml

Understanding armed groups

Understanding armed groups
Sue Williams and Robert Ricigliano
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/03.shtml

Assessing groups and opportunities: a former government minister's perspective
An interview with Mo Mowlam
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/04.shtml

Attempting to understand: an intermediary's perspective
An interview with Terry Waite
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/05.shtml

Chechen resistance: myth and reality
Ilyas Akhmadov
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/06.shtml

Armed groups' choices

From armed struggle to political negotiations: Why? When? How?
Clem McCartney
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/07.shtml

The Salvadorean insurgency: why choose peace?
Joaquín Villalobos
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/08.shtml

Choosing to engage: strategic considerations for the Karen National Union
Saw David Taw
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/09.shtml

Humanitarian and political engagement

Vive la différence? Humanitarian and political approaches to engaging armed groups
David Petrasek
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/10.shtml

The struggle against landmines: an opening for peace talks in Colombia
Elisabeth Reusse-Decrey
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/11.shtml

Operation Lifeline Sudan: war, peace and relief in southern Sudan
Lam Akol
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/12.shtml

Track one - track two interaction

The relationship between track one and track two diplomacy
Julian Thomas Hottinger
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/13.shtml

Ceasefire negotiations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo
Steven A. Smith
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/14.shtml

Building links and sustaining momentum: reflections on track two roles at the Lomé peace talks
Rashid Sandi and Frances Fortune
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/15.shtml

The impact of asymmetries

Engaging armed groups: the challenge of asymmetries
Liz Philipson
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/16.shtml

Facilitating dialogue with armed insurgents in the Philippines
Rene V. Sarmiento
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/17.shtml

In search of respect at the table: Hamas ceasefires
Alastair Crooke
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/18.shtml

Asymmetries in the peace process: the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/19.shtml

Engaging armed groups in peace processes: lessons for effective third-party practice
Nicholas (Fink) Haysom
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/20.shtml

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ALSO AVAILABLE ON-LINE
Accord policy brief
http://www.c-r.org/accord/engage/accord16/policypaper.shtml

Accord workshop report
Engaging armed groups in peace processes: Joint analysis workshop report (November 2004)
http://www.c-r.org/accord/ansa/workshop.shtml

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To order a copy of the issue please visit our website
http://www.c-r.org/accord/order/index.shtml or e-mail us on accord@c-r.org

IPRA CALL FOR PROPOSALS
IPRA Biannual Conference “Patterns of Conflict Paths to Peace”
Calgary , Canada June 29-July 3, 2006

A waging peace is the greatest affair of the international community, creativity and attempts to understand are at a premium.

We would like to invite the IPRA members and others to provide proposals for papers, panels, or other contributions.

The next biannual conference “Patterns of Conflict, Paths to Peace” will be held in Calgary (Canada) from June 29 to July 3, 2006. Our Calgary team is taking the lead in organizing the meeting. The members of the Council and Commission Conveners are working hard to compose exciting panels and discussion sessions.

You can submit the proposal forms by mail, e-mail or via the IPRA website.

There are four forms:
-Paper proposal form
-Panel/roundtable proposal form
-Plenary proposal form
-Other proposal form

Deadline for submission of proposals: 1 December 2005!
We regret that proposals after this date cannot be accepted.

Address:
Luc Reychler
International Peace Research Association (IPRA)
Center for Peace Research
University of Leuven
Van Evenstraat 2B
B-3000 Leuven, Belgium
e-mail: SGIPRA@soc.kuleuven.be
Web: http:/www.ipraweb.org

The WMD's DemocracyNews
Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org
June 2005

POSTING NEWS:
We welcome items to include in DemocracyNews. Please send an email message to
world@ned.org with the item you would like to post in the body of the message.

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CONTENTS

39. WORLD MOVEMENT PARTICIPATING NETWORKS, ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

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ALERTS

1. Rebiya Kadeer's Business Associates Detained in China
On May 13, 2005, authorities in China raided the family business office of recently freed dissident Rebiya Kadeer, a top campaigner for the rights of China's Muslim Uighur minority, and Kadeer's son has since gone into hiding. On May 11, 2005, two employees at the Rebiya Kadeer Trade Center in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in northwest China were detained and two employees of a bank involved in providing her with a business loan were later taken into custody. Amnesty International has expressed concern that these individuals could be at risk of torture or ill-treatment.
For actions and information, go to: http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=11792

2. Bahrain Women's Rights Activist on Trial for Denouncing Abuses against Women
On May 30, 2005, the Arab Program for Human Rights Activists issued an alert calling on the Bahrain government to drop charges against a leading women's rights activist, Ghanda Jamsheer, who went on trial June 2, 2005, for publicly criticizing family court judges. The alert also encourages regional and international human rights organizations to show their support and solidarity for Jamsheer. Ghanda Jamsheer heads the Women's Petition Committee, a network of activists demanding the codification of the kingdom's family laws and the reform of its family courts. In April 2003, the organization collected 1,700 signatures on a petition demanding legislative and judicial reform of these courts. After a short hearing, the trial was adjourned until July 2. If convicted, Jamsheer could face up to 15 years in prison.
For more information contact: rphra@rite.com
Also read the statement by Human Rights Watch: www.hrw.org/english/docs/2005/06/02/bahrai11062.htm

ANNOUNCEMENTS AND EVENTS

3. Call for Collaboration: Media, AIDS, and Governance Project
The Media, AIDS, and Governance (MAG) Project of the Governance and AIDS Programme at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) explores and supports the communication chain between political leaders, the media, and civil society. Its goal is to build an environment for informed interaction between citizens and the government on HIV/AIDS issues. Project activities include variety of trainings, forums, and publications and cover four southern African countries - Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia.
Donor agencies and institutions interested in developing such a project can contact the regional coordinator of the Media, AIDS and Governance Project, Marietjie Myburg: marietjie@idasa.org.za
For more information, go to: www.idasa.org.za (under Programmes, select Governance and AIDS Programme, then select Media, AIDS and Governance Project)

4. South Africa's Democracy and Development Programme Launches New Web Site
The South Africa-based Democracy Development Programme's new Web site contains basic information about the organization. More materials will be added in the next few months. DDP welcomes comments and suggestions regarding their new site. Initiated in 1993 during the run up to the first democratic elections in South Africa, DDP is committed to the promotion of sustainable democracy, political awareness and tolerance, and a culture of human rights and good governance for all citizens in the country. It supports capacity building in the governance and civil society spheres to ensure that both are empowered to contribute meaningfully to the process of social transformation in South Africa. DDP works with the India-based Institute of Social Sciences to coordinate a Global Network on Local Governance.
Go to: www.ddp.org.za/
For more information on the Global Network on Local Governance, go to: www.wmd.org/localgov.html

5. Deadline Extended for Senior International Fellows Program 2005
The application deadline for the 2005 Senior International Fellows Program at the Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society has been extended to June 15, 2005. The Senior International Fellows Program provides professional development training for Third-Sector practitioners from outside the United States who are at an advanced stage in their careers. The program is designed to help build Third-Sector capacity in the Fellows' home countries. Fellows are based at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Fellows attend weekly seminars, learn about the work of key agencies and foundations, meet with nonprofit representatives, and study U.S. and international community foundation models.
For more information and application procedures, go to: www.philanthropy.org/programs/intnl_fellows_program.html

6. NDRI Releases Latest Issue of Democracy Research News
The Network of Democracy Research Institutes (NDRI) released the April-May issue of its quarterly e-newsletter, Democracy Research News. The newsletter provides information on the activities and publications produced by NDRI member institutes. NDRI is a membership association of institutions that conduct and publish research on democracy and democratic development. It is one of several functional networks affiliated with the World Movement for Democracy.
Go to: www.wmd.org/ndri/ndri-newsletter.htm

7. Call for Applications: Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellowships
The Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellows Program at the Washington, DC-based National Endowment for Democracy welcomes applications from candidates throughout the world for fellowships in 2006-2007. Established in 2001, the program enables democracy activists, practitioners, scholars, and journalists from around the world to deepen their understanding of democracy and enhance their ability to promote democratic change. The program is intended primarily to support activists, practitioners, and scholars from new and aspiring democracies; distinguished scholars from the United States and other established democracies are also eligible to apply. Projects may focus on the political, social, economic, legal, and cultural aspects of democratic development and may include a range of methodologies and approaches. A working knowledge of English is an important prerequisite for participation in the program. The application deadline for fellowships in 2006-2007 is Tuesday, November 1, 2005.
For more information, including the application, go to: www.ned.org/forum/reagan-fascell.html or email: fellowships@ned.org.

CIVIL SOCIETY STRENGTHENING

8. New Publication: "Guide on Civil Society Organizations Working on Democratic Governance"
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Oslo Governance Centre has produced a "Guide on civil society Organizations Working on Democratic Governance" as part of its work on Civil Society, empowerment, and governance. The Guide provides information on a wide range of Civil Society Organizations working at regional and global levels across UNDP's seven priority democratic governance areas, or Service Lines. The Guide is intended for UNDP Country Offices to facilitate their outreach and collaboration with civil society organizations.
Go to: www.undp.org/oslocentre/docs05/3665%20Booklet_heleWEB_.pdf

9. Desk-top Publishing Training Program in Central Asia
The Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation Announces the next round of its desk - top publishing training program. The purpose of the program is to enhance the capability and the quality of public outreach of pro-democratic NGOs and independent newspapers in Central Asia and to foster the development of pluralism and civil society in the region. The program, conducted in Warsaw by the Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation, will train 20 representatives from independent organizations located in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. Participants of the two-week training course will return to their organizations fully trained in desk-top publishing. In addition, 11 of selected organizations will receive computer equipment facilitating publishing tasks.
To learn more about the program and to request application forms, contact: fundacja@spczs.engo.pl or spczs@szpitalna.ngo.pl
To request application forms and for more information, go to: www.spczs.engo.pl , or contact: fundacja@spczs.engo.pl or spczs@szpitalna.ngo.pl

CONFLICT RESOLUTION

10. Newsreels Help Rwandans Confront Genocide and its Aftermath
According to the report by the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), the Internews' documentary newsreel, "Justice in Rwanda" has improved Rwandan's understanding of what happened and how the perpetrators are being tried. The documentaries cover the three-part justice system for the Rwandan genocide in which an estimated 800,000 people were killed. This justice system includes the United Nations International War Crimes Tribunal, the national courts, and community-based system called gacaca.
Go to: www.internews.org/news/2005/20050531_rwanda.html

ECONOMIC REFORM AND THE BUSINESS SECTOR

11. CIPE Feature Service Article: "Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Serbia: A Political Economy View"
The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) released its latest feature service article, "Post-Conflict Reconstruction in Serbia: A Political Economy View" by Boris Begovic, Vice President of the Belgrade-based Center for Liberal-Democratic Studies (CLDS). The author examines the economic challenges posed by interest groups, political coalitions and internal Serbian politics. The author concludes that although institutions are weak and economic policy is guided by interest group politics, the expansion of small businesses governed by rule of law could facilitate the development of a capitalist economy in Serbia. However, without proper support for legal entrepreneurship, stagnation is the most likely outcome.
Go to: www.cipe.org/publications/fs/index_date.htm

ELECTIONS

12. HIV/AIDS' Impact on Democratic Governance
The Governance and AIDS Programme of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA) recently published HIV/AIDS AND DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN SOUTH AFRICA: ILLUSTRATING THE IMPACT ON ELECTORAL PROCESSES.
The book offers evidence of the possible effect of HIV and AIDS on voting patterns and political power shifts based on comparative trends in elections since 1994. It provides the first available evidence of the influence of the pandemic on the democratic process. The book focused on South Africa but it includes comparative information from other Southern African countries.
Go to: www.idasa.org.za (under "topics" select HIV/AIDS and then select books)

13. Call for Collaboration/Search for Partners to Build an Elections Resource Center
The Kenya-based Elections International is working to establish a resource center focused on a variety of topics pertaining to elections and democracy. The organization welcomes contributions of articles, reports, newsletter, magazines, books, and electronic resources focusing on elections, democracy, and on political, economic and social trends. Copies of national constitutions and electoral laws from as many countries as possible will be highly appreciated. Elections International strives to transform electoral processes to make democracy and peace more sustainable. It monitors and observes elections and referenda processes; analyzes policies and statutes pertaining to elections, democracy, and human rights; advocates for reforms in electoral laws and democratic systems; conducts civic education and skill building programs; distributes information on citizens' rights and responsibilities and elections; and trains officials of electoral management bodies and political parties.
For further details, contact: electint@yahoo.com or Baricuba, General Waruinge Rd, P.O.Box 79053-PC00400, Nairobi, Kenya

14. South Asian Regional Dialogue on Free, Fair and Credible Elections, June 29-30, 2005, Islamabad, Pakistan
The Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) is holding a South Asian Regional Dialogue on Free, Fair and Credible Elections on June 29-30, 2005 in Islamabad, Pakistan. Participants will include: representatives of Election Commissions of Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka; experts and representatives of civil society organizations active in the field of elections regionally and internationally; parliamentarians; and others. The Regional Dialogue will initiate and promote debate and dialogue in Pakistan on the issue of free, fair, and credible elections. It will facilitate the sharing of best practices among the regional and international experts active in the field.
To take part in the Dialogue and for further details, go to: www.pildat.org/electionsdialogue, or send an e-mail to electionsdialogue@pildat.org

15. Publication on Conducting Elections for Public Representatives: Call for Independent Election Commission
This paper highlights election commissions as a key component in the electoral process. In particular, it examines the current system of preparing, organizing, and conducting elections in Pakistan in view of the political, social, economic, and administrative realities of the country. The paper explores various election commission models throughout the world and identifies lessons that can be drawn for Pakistan. The purpose of the paper is to initiate debate and discussion on the issues pertaining to elections.
Go to: www.wmd.org/documents/jun05-conductingelections0605.pdf

HUMAN RIGHTS

16. Dafur: Lives Destroyed-a Web Documentary
"Dafur: Lives Destroyed" documents the destruction and genocide in Darfur, Sudan. The Web documentary was recoded by representatives of Physicians for Human Rights who visited Darfur in February of 2005. Physicians for Human Rights is a global movement of health professionals that strives to promote health by protecting human rights.
To watch the film, go to: www.phrusa.org/sudan/flash/

17. Conference on Srebrenica Genocide, Belgrade, Serbia, June 11, 2005, and Draft Declaration on Srebrenica
On June 11, 2005 the Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) will hold a conference in Belgrade, Serbia, on the Srebrenica Genocide. This conference is one of three that form the Center's project "Challenging War Crimes Denial in Serbia and Montenegro." The event will present the judicial truth about Srebrenica as established by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. In this way, the HLC seeks to counter the misleading information put by various nationalist groups in Serbia and Montenegro. Additionally, recently, HLC and a number of human rights organizations, such as Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, Center for Cultural Decontamination, Civic Initiatives, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Women in Black, Belgrade Circle, and Youth Initiative for Human Rights, drafted and presented a declaration on Srebrenica to the National Assembly of Republic of Serbia. The draft declaration stipulates that "governmental bodies of the Republic of Serbia are obliged to take all available measures aimed at facing up genocide and war crimes, and assisting the rehabilitation of the victims of genocide and their families."
Go to: www.hlc.org.yu

18. Report: Miscarriage of Jusice in Bindunuwewa Massacre
The latest issue of the ACHR REVIEW, a weekly commentary and analysis of the Asian Centre for Human Rights (ACHR) on human rights and governance issues, focuses on the May 27, 2005, acquittal by the Sri-Lankan Supreme Court of four people accused in the Bindunuwewa massacre. The accused were convicted by the Trial-at-Bar of the High Court on charges of mass murder of 28 inmates and attempted murder of 14 others at the Bindunuwewa Rehabilitations Center on October 25, 2000. The Trial-at-Bar held the police responsible for removing the detainees' bodies from the scene of the massacre to destroy the evidence. Yet, the Supreme Court justified the destruction of evidence on the grounds that it was done under the instructions of the superior officers to preserve peace. The ACHR REVIEW claims that the investigators and prosecutors systematically destroyed the evidence.
To read the full report,"Sri-Lanka; Miscarriage of Justice," go to:
www.achrweb.org/reports/srilanka/SLK0105.pdf

19. Yongyi Song Selected as the 2005 recipient of the ALA Paul Howard Award for Courage
The American Library Association (ALA) announced on May 27 that Yongyi Song is the 2005 recipient of the ALA Paul Howard Award for Courage. Song is the technical services and collection development librarian at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library, California State University, Los Angeles, and the Acting Executive Director of the Boston-based Foundation for China in 21st Century Yongyi Song was selected to receive the Award "...because of his efforts to document and present the true history of China's Cultural Revolution in the face of tremendous opposition from Chinese authorities. This opposition included periods of imprisonment for his pursuit of intellectual freedom. Song's persistence exemplifies the courage which Paul Howard defined as 'the quality of mind which enables one to face adversity, difficulty, or danger with resolution and fortitude.'"
To learn more about Youngyi Song and the award, go to: www.ala.org/Template.cfm?Section=News&template=/ContentManagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=95110

The Chairman of the Foundation for China in 21st Century, Yang Jianli, has been imprisoned in China for over 3 years.
To review World Movement's alert on Yang Jianli, go to: www.wmd.org/alert/june2602.html

20. Final Report from Ghana's National Reconciliation Commission Available Online
On April 22, 2005, the government of Ghana released the final report of the National Reconciliation Commission (NRC). The commission was appointed in 2002 to investigate human rights violations that took place between 1957 and 1993, particularly during the periods of military rule. Over the course of 18 months of hearings, NRC heard testimonies from more than 2000 victims and 79 perpetrators. Victims reported a wide range of violations, including abductions, beatings, detentions, executions-style killings, sexual abuse, torture, and seizure of property. The Commission offered the first opportunity for Ghanaians to publicly relate their experiences of abuse, uncover the truth about the past, and seek redress. The report recommends reparations for victims and institutional reforms, and exposes some of the causes for the collapse of democracy in Ghana.
To read the report, go to: www.ghana.gov.gh/NRC/index.php
Press release from CDD-Ghana: www.cddghana.org/documents/NRC%20Report%20Press%20Statement.pdf

21. Seminar on the Right of Return of Bhutanese Refugees
On May 28-28, 2005, Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development(PFHRD) Bhutan and Human Rights, Environment, and Community Development Centre (HURCED) Nepal jointly organized a two-day seminar on human rights titled," Right to Return as a Universal Human Right" in eastern Nepal. Participants of the seminar adopted a resolution stipulating that: (1) the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB) must respect the Right to Return of the Bhutanese refugees by allowing their return home as early as possible; (2) the Royal Government of Bhutan must take back all the verified refugees of the Khudunabari refugee camp with guarantee of their human rights; (3) the verification of the remaining six camps should be started immediately; (4) the practice of cutting down refugee relief should be stopped; (5) it is the responsibility of the international community to intervene urgently into this most pressing problem in order to ensure return of the refugees; (6)UNHCR and the donors should continue providing uninterrupted relief assistance to the refugees until the problem is resolved peacefully and amicably; (7) any efforts in finding out a lasting solution to the problem should be in the best interests of the refugees.
For more information contact: skpfhrd@mos.com.np

22. New Business and Human Rights Center
The Business and Human Rights Resource Center, launched in January 2005, is an independent, international, non-profit organization that strives to promote greater awareness and informed discussions of important issues relating to business and human rights. The online Resource Center includes reports of corporate misconduct, as well as example of positive actions taken by various companies and covers over 2400 companies, over 160 countries, and over 150 topics. The Center also maintains an International Advisory Network, including over 80 experts and is chaired by Mary Robinson, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and President of Ireland, and 20 institutions recognized internationally for their expertise in issues relevant to business and human rights.
Go to: www.business-humanrights.org/Home

INTERNATIONAL DEMOCRACY ASSISTANCE AND SOLIDARIY

23. Club of Madrid Launches a project focusing on Bolivia and a project on Africa
The Club of Madrid, an independent organization that strives to strengthen democracy in the world, recently launched a project in support of democracy and consensus building in Bolivia. The first Club of Madrid delegation led by Antonio Guterres, former Primer Minister of Portugal, Valentín Paniagua, former President of Peru, and Petre Roman, former Prime Minister of Romania, held a series of meeting in Bolivia on April 25-27, 2005. The focus of the project is to support the development of a new Constituent Assembly through which the Bolivian government seeks much-needed socio-political consensus and to consolidate democracy in the country. The project aims to provide strategic advice to the country's political leadership.

Another Club of Madrid Project was launched on June 5-8, 2005, at the "Presidential Leadership and Democratization" summit held in Bamako, Mali. The summit gathered 20 former presidents of African countries, including 6 members of Club of Madrid, as well as number of development leaders from around the world. This initiative was taken in partnership with the National Democratic Institute in response to the tendency for African presidents to cling to power beyond constitutionally and democratically tolerable limits because life post-presidency is seen to offer little in comparison to the riches of power and influence that come with rule. The project aims to offer outlets for African statesmen to encourage and work on democratization and development efforts throughout Africa and beyond. The experiences of Club of Madrid members, all former heads of state and government, and their continuing work for the public good, provide inspiring examples of 'lives after office.'
To learn more about these initiatives and about Club of Madrid, go to:
http://www.clubmadrid.org

24. Arab-Chilean Exchange in Santiago: Overview of the Chilean Transition to Democracy
In the context of the Third Ministerial Meeting of the Community of Democracies that took place in Santiago on April 28-30, 2005, PARTICIPA organized a meeting with Arab colleagues to analyze the characteristics of the Chilean transition to democracy and learn from it. Colleagues from Tunis, Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, Morocco and Bahrain participated in the meeting. The first day of the meeting provided an overview of transition period in Chile, highlighting its main characteristics and dilemmas. It introduced the historical context within which the transition took place, its political and social characteristics, its moral and political dilemmas, the experiences of the families and the victims of Pinochet regime, and ultimately, the lessons learned. The second day was spent visiting the some historic sites and institutions that played significant role transition such as the Foundation Vicaría de la Solidaridad, the Memorial of the Disappeared at the General Cementery, and the Park for Peace "Villa Grimaldi."
Corporación PARTICIPA is a Chilean NGO that served as the Executive Secretariat for the Non-Governmental Process for the Community of Democracies' third Ministerial Meeting.
Go to: www.santiago2005.org/news/news_24.htm

INTERNET, MEDIA, AND FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

25. IFEX Launches Arabic Newsletter on Freedom of Expression
The International Freedom of Expression eXchange (IFEX), in partnership with the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (HRInfo), recently launched the Arabic version of the "IFEX Communiqué" newsletter to raise awareness about human rights issues in the Arab speaking countries. The "IFEX Communiqué" is a weekly e-mail publication that highlights developments and issues affecting free expression worldwide. It provides regional and global news on free expression trends and up-to-date information on conferences, workshops and awards opportunities. The "IFEX Communiqué" contains a wide range of material, including information from IFEX member organizations, international media sources, and other human rights organizations. The "IFEX Communiqué" is also available in English, French, Spanish and Russian.
For the Arabic version of the "IFEX Communiqué," go to: www.hrinfo.net/ifex

26. "MobileActive" Convergence: Using Cell Phones for Civic Engagement
Green Media Toolshed and Aspiration, two US-based technology NGOs, are convening a strategy meeting of global activists and technology experts on using cell phones in political campaigns, human rights efforts, and in field organizing. The meeting, "MobileActive" Convergence, will take place in Toronto, Canada, on June 22-24, 2005. It will develop guides and best practices for campaign planners and technology staff. The organizers are looking for activists from around the world with experience using cell phones, sms messaging, and other mobile devices in campaigns, human rights and social justice work, and other civic engagement. Limited travel stipends are available for participants requiring assistance.
For more information, go to: www.mobileactive.org

LEGISLATIVE DEVELOPMENT AND ASSISTANCE

27. Best Parliamentary Practices on Budget Reviews
As part of its budget-related advocacy initiatives, Centre for Peace and Development Initiatives (CPDI-Pakistan) has prepared a document that compares best legislative budget review and approval processes compared to those practices in Pakistan. The document highlights the process-related inadequacies and gaps in the parliamentary proceedings during the previous Budget Sessions in Pakistani Parliament and shares them with parliamentarians and political parties to advocate for their more effective role in budget making.
Go to: www.wmd.org/documents/jun05-bestpractices0605.doc

POLITICAL AND CIVIC PARTICIPATION OF YOUTH

28. "Youth Without Borders"-- Summer School for Youth, Chisinau, Moldova
The Moldova-based Republican Club TVC "Polis" will host a summer school session on "Youth without borders." The session will provide leadership training for youth interested in issues such as youth participation in political and social life, youth involvement in decision-making process, civic development, and the role of youth in globalization process. Young people between 18 and 35 years from all countries are eligible to apply. The summer school will take place in Chisinau, Moldova, on July 28- August 2, 2005. The cost of participating is 450 Euros.
For details, contact: polis@mail.md
Go to: www.takingitglobal.org/opps/event.html?eventid=7308

29. West African Youth Parliamentary Forum on NEPAD
The West African Youth Network, a regional youth empowerment and democracy group, organized the West African Youth Parliamentary Forum on New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on April, 6-8, 2005. The forum, "Forging a Strategic Partnership between Youth and Members of Parliament," brought together 11 Members of Parliament (MPs) and 13 youth leaders from 13 West African Countries. The forum sought to formulate strategies that would ensure the participation of young people in governance, decision making, and the implementation of the NEPAD process. At the end of two days of deliberations, the participants established the West African Youth Parliamentary Action Group, comprising both youth and MPs, to follow up on the recommendations from the forum. The MPs also pledged to encourage the participation of youth in governance in their respective countries.
Go to: www.waynyouth.org

30. Traveling Seminar on Participation of Youth in Social Change
The Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) is developing traveling seminars on youth activism for young activists, academics, philanthropists, and anyone interested in learning more about the participation of youth in social change. The purpose of the seminars is to showcase important youth organizations and their movements, bring attention to marginalized people and their often ignored challenges, facilitate greater understanding among traditionally separated peoples, and celebrate the diversity of the global youth movement. The first two traveling seminars will take place in Brazil in July, 2005. Participants will visit the headquarters and project sites of many diverse youth organizations, learn about their work, and connect with other young people to talk about activism from the local to the global level. GYAN trip leaders will provide translation, facilitate dialogue, and supply background and supplementary information to put the work of the organizations in historical and global context. GYAN (Brazil office) serves as the secretariat of the World Movement's Youth Movement f for Democracy.
To learn more and register for tours, go to: www.youthlink.org/tours/

31. University of California Berkley Students Support Fellow Students and Activists in Belarus
A group of 30 students at the University of California, Berkeley, organized a "Hike for Democracy to raise money for the Belarusian pro-democracy youth movement, Zubr. On April 30, 2005, students from the Berkeley chapter of the international student organization Students for Global Democracy (SGD) hiked 17 kilometers around Tilden Park, a protected wild area in the hills above the town of Berkeley in California. The group raised more then $1,000 that will be given to Zubr to support their printing of independent pro-democracy leaflets and newspapers.
For more information about the hike, to: www.zubr-belarus.com/index.php?id=1409&lang=2 and www.sfgd.org

RESEARCH

32. Conference: "Fighting Poverty and Reforming Social Security," June 10, 2005, Washington, DC
On June 10, 2005, the East European Studies Program at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, hosted a conference on "Fighting Poverty and Reforming Social Security: What Can Post-Soviet States Learn from the New Democracies of Central Europe." This conference brought together international scholars and policy practitioners to examine patterns of welfare state development in select post-communist states and to analyze how national histories, international actors, domestic institutional contexts and the interdependence of recent social, economic, and political reforms have contributed to differences in social policies and welfare state provision.
For further details, contact: www.wilsoncenter.org/ees

33. "How Freedom is Won: From Civic Struggle to Durable Democracy"- a Study by Freedom House
This Freedom House study analyzes 67 transitions from authoritarian rule that have occurred since 1972, the beginning of what political scientists call the "Third Wave" of democratization. The study examines four key characteristics of each transition -- the societal forces driving it, the strength of nonviolent civic resistance, the level of violence, and the sources of that violence -- to determine how successful transitions to democracy are achieved. The study finds that transitions generated by nonviolent civic coalitions lead to far better results for freedom than top-down transitions initiated by elites. The findings suggest that policy makers should offer support to nascent civic resistance movements in order to foster democratic change.
Go to: http://freedomhouse.org/research/specreports/civictrans/index.htm

RULE OF LAW

34. Milosevic Trial Transcripts Available Online in Bosnian, Croatian, and Serbian
The transcripts of the Milosevic trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) are now available online in Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian (BCS) languages. The Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) has been preparing these transcripts since the beginning of the trial in February of 2002 as part of its effort to document and archive war crimes and uncover the truth about the past. In the future, the HLC plans to produce transcripts of the following trials which are before the ICTY in BCS languages: Krajsnik, Krstic, Obrenovic, Nikolic, Blagojevic, Jokic, Mucic, Krnojelac, Vasiljevic, Oric, Limaj, and Seselj.
Go to: www.hlc.org.yu/srpski/Haski_tribunal/Sudjenje_Milosevicu/Transkripti.php
To listen to live and archived audio/video recording in English of the Milosovic trial in Hague go to: http://hague.bard.edu/video.html

WOMEN'S ISSUES

35. Kachin Women Expose Alarming Trafficking Trend to China
Kachin Women's Association Thailand (KWAT) has launched a new report, entitled "Driven Away - Trafficking of Kachin Women on the China-Burma Border," revealing an alarming increase in trafficking of young Kachin women and girls from Burma and questioning the effectiveness of current anti-trafficking measures being promoted by the Burmese military regime. The report is based on 63 trafficking cases that occurred between 2000 and 2004. The cases involve 85 women and girls, mostly between the ages of 14 and 20. Failed state policies in Burma are identified as key trafficking "push factors."
Go to: www.womenofburma.org

36. New Study: "Women's Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Citizenship and Justice"
On May 20, 2005, Freedom House launched a new survey of women's rights in the Middle East and North Africa. The survey, "Women's Rights in the Middle East and North Africa: Citizenship and Justice," is a comparative analysis and ranking of the state of women's freedom in 16 countries and one territory in the region. The study, including all country reports and charts and tables, is available online.
Go to: www.freedomhouse.org/research/menasurvey/

37. Women's Role in Politics and Society in Rwanda
The Association of Women's Rights in Development (AWID) recently published on its Web site an interview with Mary Balikungeri, the Executive Director of the Rwanda Women's Community Development Network (RWN). In this interview Mary Balikungeri talks about RWN's work on improving the economic and social welfare of women in Rwanda. The interview highlights the women's roles as leaders, legislators, and peace makers.
Go to: www.awid.org/go.php?list=analysis&prefix=analysis&item=00247

38. Online Bulletin on Women's Political Engagement - latest Issue Available Online
Onlinewomeninpolitics.org, a network of Asia Pacific women involved in politics, governance, decision-making, and transformative leadership, recently released the latest issue of its Online Women Bulletin. The issue contains summaries of the information available on the Network's Web site, announcements of events, and women-focused news stories.
Go to: www.onlinewomeninpolitics.org/

39. WORLD MOVEMENT PARTICIPATING NETWORKS, ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS MENTIONED IN THIS ISSUE

* Arab Program for Human Rights Activists - www.aphra.org/
* Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana) - www.cddghana.org
* Center for International Private Enterprise - www.cipe.org
* Democracy Development Programme - www.ddp.org.za
* Foundation for China in 21st Century - www.china21century.org
* Freedom House - www.freedomhouse.org
* Global Network on Local Governance - www.wmd.org/localgov.html
* Global Youth Action Network (GYAN) - www.youthlink.org/
* Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) - www.hlc.org.yu
* Institute for Democracy in South Africa - www.idasa.org.za
* National Endowment for Democracy - www.ned.org
* Network of Democracy Research Institutes (NDRI) - www.wmd.org/ndri/ndri.html
* Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (PILDAT) -
* PARTICIPA - www.participa.cl/
* Peoples Forum for Human Rights and Development (PFHRD)
* Polish-Czech-Slovak Solidarity Foundation - www.spczs.engo.pl
* www.pildat.org
* Youth Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org/youth/youth.html

******************************************************************

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If you do not have access to the Web and would like to access the materials mentioned above, please contact us by e-mail(world@ned.org)or fax (202-293-0755).

DemocracyNews is an electronic mailing list moderated by the National Endowment for Democracy as the Secretariat of the World Movement for Democracy.
The material presented in DemocracyNews is intended for information purposes only.
The WMD's DemocracyNews
Electronic Newsletter of the World Movement for Democracy - www.wmd.org

In cooperation with the European Finance Association (EFA), FEN
announces the EFA 2005 Moscow Meetings Abstracting journal. This
abstracting journal, available to all subscribers at no charge,
contains abstracts of the meetings papers with links to the full text
in the SSRN eLibrary.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
You can subscribe to the EFA 2005 Moscow Meetings Abstracting journal
by clicking on the following link:
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This link uses browser cookies to store the name of the journal while
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Participants of this year's meetings will be subscribed to the
abstracting journal. In addition, subscribers to the previous EFA
annual meetings abstracting journals will automatically receive this
year's journal as well.

ABOUT EFA 2005 MOSCOW MEETINGS ABSTRACTS
The purpose of this abstracting journal is to provide a data
warehouse for all abstracts and papers presented at the meetings and
to facilitate their distribution to the financial profession as a
whole. Abstracts of the papers will also be published in
subject-specific journals within the FEN Network and, where
appropriate, in the journals of our sister networks.

Conference URL:
http://www.efa2005.org/

ABOUT EFA 2005 MOSCOW MEETINGS ABSTRACTS & PAPERS AT SSRN
The following URL will allow you to browse all EFA 2005 Moscow Meetings
Abstracts in the SSRN database as they are submitted. You may wish to
bookmark it in your browser.
http://www.ssrn.com/link/EFA-2005-Moscow.html

SSRN eLIBRARY
SSRN's searchable electronic library contains abstracts, full
bibliographic data, and author contact information for more than
94,000 papers, over 49,000 authors, and full text for over 68,000
papers. The eLibrary can be accessed at: http://papers.ssrn.com

SSRN PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY
Searching on an individual's name in the author field on our search
page at http://papers.ssrn.com can offer perhaps the best single
professional directory of scholars in law, economics, finance,
accounting and management. Contact information for authors including
email, postal, and telephone and fax information is available there.

Michael C. Jensen
Director, Financial Economics Network

CHILDREN OF THE EARTH with THE WORLD SPIRIT FORUM
And Hindu Vidyapeeth Schools Nepal
present
Inner Peace for World Peace
Youth Conference- Serving Humanity
How spirituality and consciousness foster PEACE.
Nepal, 2005

In January 2005, fifteen Youth Leaders met in Arosa, Switzerland. They arrived from all corners of the world with the vision to foster the future of Spirituality. They came to the conclusion that there is a pressing need for a new movement of youth who live inner peace and see the direct link inner transformation has in transforming and creating peace in the world. Through these discussions, the World Spirit Youth Council was formed.

The nucleus group is now inviting willing and passionate youth leaders to perceive, share, synergize and partake in ways of creating a future culture of inner peace and unity. There is growing scientific thought that proves the direct connection that our own inner world has on our environment and our planet. Since the beginning of time, Mystics from all disciplines have been hinting that our thoughts and feelings create our cognitive reality. Slowly, it seems, Science and Spirituality are fusing to show us that there is a way to understand life and to create the “world peace” that we so much desire. As it was written in the temple of Delphi “Know Thyself…..and you will know the Universe and the gods.” It is by going beyond our own minds that we can finally consciously transform the subjective reality and become a more loving interrelated family of humankind.

Youth are invited to join us in Nepal for the “Inner Peace for World Peace--- Youth Conference- Serving Humanity” Youth conference starting on the 29th of December for a period of one week. You are invited to explore groundbreaking mystical and scientific approaches for creating peace in our world.

Nepal has been selected as a country that holds spirituality in extraordinary high esteem and is a center for many of the world religions and yet, at the same time is a hotbed for potential warring difficulties. Perhaps young people can come together and perceive the dichotomy and dynamics of why both extremes exist within such a beautiful country.

Many facilitators and Spiritual leaders from all religions will share their wisdom and viewing points of how to go beyond the religious perspectives into the heart of our spiritual nature. In addition, scientists will explain the growing body of information that exists and offer the understanding that consciousness is in the “space between form” and will share techniques of how to tap into this wisdom and enter the universal field of “Silent Knowledge”.

Youth will have the opportunity of formulating strategies and action plans to take spirituality into their part of the world with the hope of spreading the ultimate truth, the “I Am”That “ (Tat Tvam Asi ) or “I am that I am” that lies within each individual’s potential. From the group of participants, five youth will emerge to stand as ambassadors at the next World Spirit Forum to be held in Arosa. In addition, this group will then share with adults and youth the knowledge, wisdom and experience they have attained during their time in Nepal, at the 2006 World Spirit Forum.

The only path to true and lasting peace starts within our own hearts. Our world mirrors our own state of being. To truly transform the world is to begin transforming ourselves. Addressing only the symptoms and ignoring the cause of war and violence creates a “kink” in the chain. The separation we perceive “out there” is a direct mirror of our own separation that we have perpetrated and perpetuated within our own minds, hearts and psyche.

It is crucial to empower the youth of the world into a unified heart and mind, as they are the torchbearers of tomorrow in this way of being. Empower the youth - empower the future. It is the way to sustainable unity within our world.

As a spiritual youth leader, you are invited to accompany us on a journey of exploration to understand the true connection between inner and outer peace. See you in Nepal.

Nina Meyerhof, Ed. D.
Pres of Children of the Earth
coevt at aol.com

Oran Cohen
Youth Program Coordinator
oran at livingpeace.za.org

Dear Colleagues,

FIPLV, the international umbrella organization for teachers of modern languages, holds a World Congress every three years. In 2003 the World Congress took place in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2006 we will meet in Göteborg in the Nordic country of Sweden, 15 - 17 June, celebrating 75 years of FIPLV.

LMS is proud and honoured to have been entrusted by FIPLV to organize the FIPLV Congress 2006. LMS is the national multilingual teachers' association of Sweden with a membership of 4300 teachers from primary school to university level.

We hereby kindly invite colleagues from all language associations to participate. Our ambition is to present a wide choice of lectures and seminars on the conference theme 'Diversity in Language Learning and Teaching'.

Welcome to Sweden in early summer ! It is our sincere hope to meet as many of you as possible in beautiful West Sweden.

A social programme will be arranged.

Call for papers will appear separately. For further information see our websites:
www.fiplv.org and www.lms-riks.se

Margareta LeojVice President FIPLV
Ann Englund, President LMS
Bengt Henningsson, Honorary Counsellor FIPLV

In cooperation with the International Association of Conflict
Management, NEG announces the IACM Eighteenth Annual Meetings
abstracting journal. This abstracting journal, available to all
subscribers at no charge, contains abstracts of the meetings papers
with links to the full text in the SSRN eLibrary.

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE
You can subscribe to the IACM Eighteenth Annual Meetings abstracting
journal by clicking on the following link:
http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=IACM-2005

This link uses browser cookies to store the name of the journal while
you login. You will need to enable cookies on your browser to use the
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Participants of this year's conference will be subscribed to the
abstracting journal. In addition, subscribers to the IACM Seventeenth
Annual Meetings Abstracting journal will automatically receive this
year's journal as well.

ABOUT IACM EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL MEETINGS ABSTRACTS
The purpose of this abstracting journal is to provide a data
warehouse for all abstracts and papers presented at the meetings and
to facilitate their distribution to the management profession as a
whole. Abstracts of the papers will also be published in
subject-specific journals within the Negotiations Research Network
and, where appropriate, in the journals of our sister networks.

Conference URL:
http://www.iacm-conflict.org/2005/

IACM EIGHTEENTH ANNUAL MEETINGS ABSTRACTS & PAPERS AT SSRN
The following URL will allow you to browse all NEG IACM Eighteenth
Annual Meetings abstracts in the SSRN database as they are submitted.
You may wish to bookmark it in your browser.
http://www.ssrn.com/link/IACM-2005.html

Max Bazerman
Director, Negotiations Research Network

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This is Social Science Research Network's (SSRN) general announcement.
All subscribers to other SSRN lists [FEN, ARN, ERN, LSN and MRN] are
automatically subscribed.

Make Sense. Make Peace. Make History.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Department of Peace Conference
Sept 10 - 12, 2005
Washington D.C.

Join us in our nation's capitol to lobby for a Cabinet-level Department of Peace, as the legislation is re-introduced in the House of Representatives as a tribute to victims of September 11th.

From a culture of peace comes a world without war.

Marianne Williamson, Master of Ceremonies

Azim Khamisa
Tim Reynolds
Marianne Williamson

Special Highlights:

Join us for a conversation with legendary journalist Walter Cronkite and Congressman Dennis Kucinich about building a culture of peace, and more specifically the Department of Peace.
John Titus, from September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows (www.peacefultomorrows.org) will share at a nondenominational service on Sunday Sept. 11th.
and more...

At the Conference:

Join with hundreds of citizens from across the country.
Develop a comprehensive understanding of the Department of Peace legislation.
Discover and practice effective lobbying strategies.
Network with citizens from around the country:
Visit Capitol Hill and walk the halls of Congress
Meet your representatives
Make your voice heard.
Form a new political constituency with the power to make an historic impact.
Every generation has its moment.
This is ours...

Conference Sponsored by:
www.ThePeaceAlliance.org
We hope to see you there!

Register now and learn more at:
http://www.thepeacealliance.org/events/sept_conf_05.htm

For further information watch Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Marianne Williamson on CNN at: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/cnn.htm

EMAIL LIST: To join our email list for updates, send a blank email to:
subscribe-3536 at en.groundspring.org

The Peace Alliance and Foundation
PO Box 3259 - Center Line, Michigan 48015 USA
Tel (586) 754-8105 Fax (586) 754-8106
www.ThePeaceAlliance.org -- Info at ThePeaceAlliance.org

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

Leitung: Ayoko Mensah

In den letzten 10 Jahren hat sich die Tanzszene auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent tiefgreifend erneuert. Es handelt sich um eine junge Generation von Tänzern und Choreographen, die der ersten Generation zeitgenössischer afrikanischer Tänzer wie Germaine Acogny, Soulaymane Koly, Elsa Woliaston oder Koffi Kôkô gefolgt ist.

Dazu gehören Tänzerchoreographen wie Beatrice Combé aus Abidjan/Elfenbeinküste, Salia Sanou und Seydou Boro aus Burkinafaso, Boyzie Cekwana aus Südafrika oder der kongolesische Künstler Faustin Linyekula. Diese Tänzer haben eigene Handschriften entwickelt, durch die sie Fragen nach künstlerischer Selbstbestimmung oder nach dem Begriff des Zeitgenössischen in der afrikanischen Kunst aufgeworfen haben. Wir erleben heute von Dakar bis Johannesburg eine einzigartige Dynamik künstlerischer Entfaltung im afrikanischen Tanz, die zentrale Fragen an den Tanz, aber auch an die Kunst generell in Afrika stellt. Wie drücken Künstler ihren Bezug zur Modernität aus? Wie kommt ihre Suche nach Identität zum Ausdruck? Wie werden so genannte traditionelle Formen einbezogen und Einflüsse unterschiedlichster Herkunft genutzt?

Hinter all diesen Fragen verbirgt sich die postkoloniale Situation, die in den afrikanischen Ländern von einer zugespitzten Brisanz ist. Okwui Enwezor hat in seinem Ausstellungsprojekt The Short Century genau diese Brisanz herausgearbeitet. Afrika: Ein Kontinent dessen Befreiung von kolonialer Herrschaft in den 60er Jahren begonnen hat, ein Kontinent, der bis heute mit den fatalen Folgen der implantierten nationalen Grenzen und den daraus folgenden ethnischen Konflikten zu kämpfen hat.

Diesem Kontinent ist eigene Entwicklung über lange Zeit verwehrt worden. Die Zeit nach der Unabhängigkeit steht für den Aufbruch einer selbstbestimmten Entwicklung auch künstlerischer Ansätze. Heutzutage durchlebt der Tanz spannende Veränderungen und vielfältige Entwicklungen,die nicht mehr in Frage zu stellen sind

Damit zusammen geht eine Reflexion von Tänzern wie Seydou Boro, Kettly Noël oder Faustin Linyekula, die sich auf die politische Wirklichkeit der afrikanischen Staaten, aber auch auf die Stellung afrikanischer Künstler in Europa bezieht. Die an der Konferenz teilnehmenden Choreographen werden zusammen mit Funmi Adélowé, eine der wenigen Historikerinnen für afrikanische Tanzgeschichte, die bedeutesten Fragestellungen des Tanzes und der zeitgenössischen afrikanischen Kunst beleuchten und diskutieren.

Die Konferenz wurde von Ayoko Mensah initiiert und geplant. Sie ist französisch-togolesische Journalistin und für die Rubrik Tanz in der Zeitschrift „Africultures“ verantwortlich.

http://www.hkw.de/de/programm2005/intransit05/veranstaltungen_1339/detail__2678.php

---------------------------
Ablauf

Sonntag 12.6
10 - 13h
Gibt es einen zeitgenössischen afrikanischen Tanz?

15 - 18h
Zwischen Brüchen und Exotismus: Welchen Platz nehmen zeitgenössische afrikanische Tänzer in Europa und in Afrika ein?

19h
„La Danseuse d’Ebène“ (2005)

Eine Filmdokumentation von Seydou Boro über Irène Tassembédo, die Direktorin des Ballet National du Burkina Faso

Teilnehmer:

Funmi Adewolé, nigerianische Tänzerin und Tanzhistorikerin London, Koffi Kôkô, Faustin Linyekula, Seydou Boro, Kettly Noël, u.a.

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich at africavenir.org

Redaktion des Newsletters: Eric Van Grasdorff, e.vangrasdorff@africavenir.org
AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich

Please see here a new book, with a chapter by Hilde Eileen Nafstad on "Assumptions and Values in the Production of Knowledge: Towards an Area Ethics of Psychology and the Social Sciences."

The book is entitled

Values In Higher Education

Editors: Simon Robinson and Clement Katulushi
ISBN: 1-899750-13-4
Publication Date: 1 March 2005
Price: £15.00
No. Pages: 320
Size: 145mm x 210mm
Binding: Paperback
Classification: Education
UK orders : phone 01656 880033
http://www.aureus.co.uk/Values/Values.html

What is the point of Higher Education?

What value does it have for the individual or the nation?

The myth that you need a degree to 'succeed' has been punctured in practice by politicians, business people, sportspersons and many more. So why does the government want fifty percent of the 18 to 30 year olds to be in Higher Education? Is there perhaps something more lasting and profound that the university has to contribute to the individual and to society, which makes Higher Education a good that we should strive for? If so, is this to do with the long-term material well-being of society or even the very nature of that society? Dearing suggests that we might care to think in terms of the university as 'shaping society'. But to what end might society be shaped? Who decides what is 'civilized', what are the underlying values and how might they be arrived at in a postmodern society?

To mark the centenary of the University of Leeds, Values in Higher Education brings together some of the foremost thinkers of the day to address these questions in theory and practice. These writers put down benchmarks for the debate on Values in Higher Education in the 21st century:

Zygmunt Bauman
Melvyn Bragg
Thomas Bender
Gwen Collins
John Cowan
Miriam David
Bob Fryer
Nigel Humphrys
Tom Mcleish
Chris Megone
Hilde Eileen Nafstad
Peter Scott
Sue Vickerman
Rowan Williams
Alan Wilson

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

die Junge Europäische Bewegung (JEB), die Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA) und AfricAvenir International in Kooperation mit der Europäischen Akademie und der Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung laden Sie zu folgendem Tagesseminar ein:

AFRIKANISCH-EUROPÄISCHE BEZIEHUNGEN
Welche Auswirkungen und Folgen europäischer Politik gibt es auf dem afrikanischen Kontinent? Gibt es Konsequenzen in Europa, die sich aus afrikanischer Politik ergeben? Wie gestaltet sich die Zusammenarbeit Afrikas und Europas aus politischer und wirtschaftlicher Sicht? Anhand der Themen "Staatenzerfall und Implikationen für Europa", "wirtschaftliche Perspektiven" und "Afrikanische Renaissance" werden in drei Blöcken (s.u.) diese Fragen zu beantworten versucht. Ein einführender Seminarreader zur Vorbereitung ist erstellt und wird nach einer Anmeldung verschickt.

Die Veranstaltung findet am 02. Juli 2005 in der Europäischen Akademie Berlin, Bismarckallee 46/48, in 14193 Berlin-Grunewald statt. Da die TeilnehmerInnenzahl begrenzt ist, wird um Anmeldung bis spätestens Montag, 27. Juni gebeten. Die Teilnahmegebühr von 15 Euro kann im Voraus überwiesen werden (Bankverbindung s.u.), oder am Tag der Veranstaltung bar mitgebracht werden. Das Geld wird für Mittagessen, Abendbrot und für Getränke in den Pausen verwendet.

Anmeldung mit Name, Adresse, Geburtsdatum und Email: Junge Europäische Bewegung Berlin Brandenburg, z.Hd. Félix Baumert, Bundesallee 22, 10717 Berlin, Buero at jeb-bb.de, Fax: 030-88412240, Tel: 030-42084032

Bankverbindung: Junge Europäische Bewegung, Kto: 437277700, BLZ: 10070000, Deutsche Bank Berlin, Verw.zweck: Afrika-Seminar, 2. Juli

Veranstaltungsablauf:
10.00 Einführung
10:30 1. Block "Der Zerfall afrikanischer Staaten und die Implikationen für die europäische Sicherheitspolitik"
10:30 Referat im Plenum (Wolf-Christian Paes, INISA)
10:50 Diskussion in AGs
11:30 Aussprache im Plenum
12:00 Mittagspause
13:00 2. Block "Welche Perspektiven hat Afrika auf dem Weltmarkt"
13:00 Referat im Plenum (Friedrich Bokern, JEB)
13:20 Diskussion in AGs
14:00 Aussprache im Plenum
14:30 Pause
15:00 3. Block: "Afrika und Europa, eine ambivalente Nachbarschaft: Die 'Afrikanische
Renaissance' als Herausforderung für die afrikanisch-europäischen Beziehungen"
15:00 Referat im Plenum (Eric Van Grasdorff, AfricAvenir International)
15:20 Diskussion in AGs
16:00 Aussprache im Plenum
16:30 Präsentation der Ergebnisse innerhalb der Arbeitsgruppen
18:00 Abendessen
19:00 Podiumsdiskussion "Europäisch-afrikanische Beziehungen"
Dr. phil. Denis M. Tull, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (angefragt)
Dr. Victor Dzidzonou, Vorsitzender Afrika Forum e.V.
Pater Wolfgang Schonecke, Netzwerk Afrika Deutschland e.V.
Moderation: Dr. Christoph von Marschall, Tagesspiegel (angefragt)

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich at africavenir.org

Redaktion des Newsletters: Eric Van Grasdorff, e.vangrasdorff at africavenir.org
AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich.

Human & Social Dimensions of Peace: Planetary Ethics and Education

Visiting Instructor: Dale T. Snauwaert, Ph. D.

The purpose of this intensive seminar is to explore the ethics of war and peace and its implications for the education of democratic citizens. The following questions will be explored: Does the use of force require moral justification, or is political necessity sufficient? Can the use of force ever be morally justified? If yes, what principles justify and govern its use? Are there certain things that never should be done to another human being? Are there things that must be provided to every human being? Is peace a basic right? What is the nature of evil (i.e., why do individuals and states commit crimes of aggression?)? Should citizens of a democracy be educated in order to participate in ethical and political discourse concerning these questions? If yes, what would constitute such an education? These questions are both perennial and timely. Decent societies are faced with global terrorism, the escalation of weapons of mass destruction, and the growing assumption that the use of force is a more viable instrument of conflict resolution than diplomacy. Will future democratic citizens be prepared to engage in thoughtful dialogue about these basic moral issues? Are you? These questions will be explored from the perspectives of the Just War, Pacifist, and Human Rights traditions as well as moral philosophy. Not only will the moral principles that define and guide moral decision making be explored, but the underlying moral resources that make moral choice and action more likely will be examined as well.

(This course is available to registered Teachers College students only. A required course of the Peace Education Concentration in the Program of International Educational Development)

For further information, please visit us on the web at: www.tc.edu/PeaceEd

Or contact us by phone or email: peace-ed at tc.edu / 212.678.8116

Tourism Against Poverty
Please join ICTP and our campaign today

Geoffrey Lipman, president ICTP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Tourism Partners,

A few weeks ago I identified a micro reason for joining the Tourism against Poverty Campaign – the fact that a donation as small as 50p to British Airways Change for Good Campaign can stop 20 children in Africa from going blind for a year.

Now we are seeing the macro level campaign stepped up.

The European Union has initiated action to establish a so-called voluntary levy from airline passengers to provide funds for the war on poverty. This in response to a call from French President Jacques Chirac.

Looking to next month’s G8 in Scotland UK Prime Minister Blair will travel to Washington to seek support from President Bush for action to eliminate debt for the poorest countries, to make trade fairer and to increase aid. At the same time Chancellor Gordon Brown will step up the campaign with Finance Ministers starting with the EU and proceeding to incorporate the other world leaders from industrialized and emerging markets.

Brown says that the actions proposed would mean that the world’s poorest countries would eliminate 15 billion dollars worth debt servicing costs between now and 2015. He also says that related proposals for an International financing facility would save 5 million lives in the same time period.

The G8 is not the end of the road – it’s just another important stepping stone on the long road towards fairness and decency and the implementation of the millennium Development Goals by 2015.

ICTP believes that the world’s largest industry should strongly support these initiatives and step firmly down this road – not the least because tourism is the single most important sector for trade and export income for the world’s poorest countries. And because we create the kinds of local economic activity that can over time build sustainable self-reliant economic structures based on entrepreneurship, micro-enterprise and local community involvement.

Please join us at http://tourismpartners.org/join/ .

Geoffrey Lipman
President iCTP

Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH)
June 7, 2005

The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity (CGNews-PiH) is distributing the enclosed articles to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. Unless otherwise noted, all copyright permissions have been obtained and the articles may be reproduced by any news outlet or publication free of charge. If publishing, please acknowledge both the original source and CGNews, and notify us at cgnewspih@sfcg.org.

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ARTICLES IN THIS EDITION:

1. " Syrian reformers try to keep the pressure on" by Rhonda Roumani
Rhonda Roumani, a freelance writer living in Syria and former Islam producer
at Beliefnet, considers the state of Syria leading up to the Ba'ath Party congress meeting and evaluates the potential for reform with or without help from the United States.
(Source: The Christian Science Monitor, May 25, 2005)

2. "Turkey's dreams to join EU grow less likely despite assurances " by Michael Glackin
Michael Glackin, managing director for the Daily Star, investigates European criticism to Turkey joining the EU and the increasing frustration at home as their reform measures are seen as "not enough".
(Source: The Daily Star, May 30, 2005)

3. "War, journalists, and cultural blunders" by Frank Kaufmann
Frank Kaufmann, director of the office of inter-religious relations of the Inter-Religious and International Federation for World Peace, discusses the impact of "cultural blunders" in Western news and editorial cartoons that reach global audiences and calls for true inter-cultural and interreligious respect and collaboration as the solution to the high costs of some of these words and pictures.
(Source: Middle East Times, May 22, 2005)

4. "US and the Muslim World: There Are Still Possibilities for Mending Fences" by
William Fisher
William Fisher, a freelance writer and regular contributor to Arab News, argues that months after the U.S. Administration's acknowledgement of the for better communication between the US and the Muslim World, negative images of America still abound in predominantly Muslim countries. He considers the recent report "A New Beginning: Strategies for a More Fruitful Dialogue with the Muslim World" and highlights some of the constructive steps that still need to take place.
(Source: Arab News, May 28, 2005)

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~YOUTH VIEWS ARTICLE~

"Of Desecration, Democracy, and Demonstrations" by Maha El Dahan
Maha El Dahan, a freelance journalist currently based in Cairo, looks at youth responses to the recent allegations of abuse to the Koran in Guatanamo Bay and asks why Egyptian young people seemed to be the last to react.
(Source: Search for Common Ground, June 7, 2005)

Of Desecration, Democracy, and Demonstrations
Maha El Dahan

A report published by Newsweek in its May 9 edition about the abuses taking place in Guantanamo Bay prison had the Muslim world up in arms demonstrating against the desecration of the Koran. Or did it?

The controversy, initiated by less than a sentence stating that the Koran had been mishandled and flushed down a toilet, instigated violent protests in Afghanistan, where 16 were reported dead. Images of angry bearded young men, veiled women, young children, and old sheiks chanting anti-American slogans while burning American flags were broadcast the world over. For the average observer, Muslims were outraged and had taken their anger to the streets. But in Egypt, when asked about their feelings on the issue, many youth answered with a question; "I haven't been following that story, so can you brief me on what exactly happened?"

"Whenever I see yet another story about these violations on the news, I just switch channels. It is too depressing and it is the same thing over and over again so why should I bother?" asks Hanaa, a recent political science graduate from Cairo University. But is it simply apathy that has stopped Egyptian youth from reacting more visibly to the desecration of one of their most important religious symbols, or is there more?

Newsweek later retracted its statement, and by May 26, Guantanamo Bay prison commander Brigadier General Jay Hood made a statement explaining that the Koran had been mishandled on five different occasions since late 2001, according to investigations, but not flushed down the toilet. However, the retraction and the subsequent recognition of the abuses by the U.S. administration did not calm things down. By the next day, demonstrations broke out in Morocco, Lebanon, Malaysia, Jordan, Pakistan and, for the first time since the whole fiasco started, in Egypt.

The Egyptians took quite a long time to react though: more than two weeks. Before that reactions came in the form of statements issued by the Grand Sheikh of Al Azhar, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Arab League condemning the act and demanding apologies. And when the demonstrations did finally come, they were not propelled by Egyptian youth from different backgrounds, but were organized by a single group, the Muslim Brotherhood.

"The desecration of the Koran crosses all the red lines and the demonstrations that took place in Cairo and Alexandria reflect the feelings of the whole Egyptian population," argued Mohamed Habib, first deputy to the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brothers. If they do indeed reflect the feelings of a nation, why weren't these feelings reflected more widely?

"There are so many reports about so many abuses that people eventually become a bit reluctant to react. When David Letterman makes fun of the whole incident on his show and says that Muslims already hate Americans and asks why this incident should matter, that shows how stereotypical their [Americans'] whole image of us has become and how frustrating it is sometimes to fight it," says Hatem Ali, a former student activist and a computer science graduate of the American University in Cairo (AUC).

Bahaa Ezz El Arab is a political science senior at the American University in Cairo. Politically active and having taken part in many a demonstration before, he makes the point that although the reports on the desecration of the Koran disturbed him, "what they are doing to human beings is much more important than what they are doing to books." He explains how, "[r]eports about the abuses in Abu Ghraib, for example, hurt me much more."

There is a feeling that the desecration of the Koran is just one in a long line of abuses that have been taking place for quite some time now. It is not that the act was not shameful, more that it came as no surprise considering what had been taking place already.

The lack of an active reaction towards the desecration might have been caused by more than a sense of general frustration at the U.S. administration, though. Recently, Egyptians have been more occupied by what is happening inside their country than outside.

When asked about why the Muslim Brothers failed to express their anger at the desecration sooner, Habib explained, "We had a referendum and a constitutional amendment to worry about. Internally a lot is happening."
A constitutional amendment initiated by President Mubarak February 28, which will allow Egyptians to choose their president from amongst more than one candidate for the first time in history, has propelled much controversy. While the amendment passed in a referendum May 25, main opposition parties boycotted the referendum altogether, stating that it was a sham, a show for the U.S. administration, and that the government was not serious enough about reform.

The government has responded with violent crackdowns on opposition the day of the referendum and continual arrests of the members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Kefaya, or 'Enough' movement, which calls for ending the political stagnation that is leading to economic and societal deterioration. Their main slogan is "No 5th term [for Hosni Mubarak], and no inheritance for Gamal [Mubarak]."

"I have demonstrated with Kefaya in front of the Press Syndicate, as I believe it was a way of expressing my opinion about the current situation in Egypt," says Ezz El Arab. Internal political reform may be more of a priority to Egyptian youth and a more pressing cause for demonstration. Some would like to take the matter beyond just random demonstrations every now and then. Shady Iskak, son of George Iskak, who coordinates the Kefaya movement, is a student in the third year of Egypt's Cinema Institute. He thinks, "The demonstrations of Kefaya are enough to initiate a democratic reform process in Egypt. We have to reach out to the average Egyptian citizen, taxi drivers for example, and spread the awareness to them about why they should press for reform to change their current conditions."

So while the initial lack of reaction to the desecration by Egyptian youth might indicate a state of apathy, the situation is actually more complex than that. Frustration with U.S. policy in the region is one of the factors that might be forcing Egyptian youth to take a closer look at what is happening internally that makes them unable to protect their culture, identity, and their religious symbols on the international scene. Ironically, Bush's plan for initiating democratic reform in the region through his war on Iraq might just work, and not because he is spreading his 'democratic' ideals, rather the opposite.

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*Maha El Dahan is a freelance journalist currently based in Cairo. She graduated with a BA in International Relations from the American University in Cairo (AUC) in 2002 and earned her MA in Professional Development in 2004 from the same institution.
Source: Search for Common Ground Commissioned Article, June 7, 2005
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 1
Syrian reformers try to keep the pressure on
Rhonda Roumani

DAMASCUS, SYRIA "The international pressure directed at Syria after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harir helped end this country's domination of its neighbor. But even as the United Nations certified on Monday that all Syrian troops and intelligence agents had left Lebanon, activists here hope the international spotlight on Damascus doesn't dim.

Some speculate that Lebanon's Cedar Revolution that erupted after Mr. Hariri's death could begin to inspire a Jasmine Revolution, named for the plant that blooms throughout the country, to press for democratic change in Syria. And these activists insist that US pressure on President Bashar al-Assad's regime is crucial to their success.

"A large reason that reformers are looking to the US to put pressure on [Syria] is that it gives them cover to put pressure from below," says Joshua Landis, a Damascus-based specialist on Syria.

"They can say we need radical change to protect the nation because if we don't do this, Americans will come in with a two-by-four and try to destabilize Syria," he says.

In an address to parliament in March, Mr. Assad announced there would be a "great leap" in internal affairs. And there was speculation that at the upcoming Baath Party congress in June members would discuss the eradication of Article 8 of the constitution, which placed authority in the hands of the Baath Party since 1963, legalize political parties, and provide full amnesty to political prisoners and exiles.

But while there is hope that long-awaited reforms may be coming, activists say they doubt the government is willing to institute real change on its own.

Tuesday eight members of the Jamal al-Atassi Forum, a pro-democracy group, were arrested for their involvement in delivering a speech on behalf of the Muslim Brotherhood. Membership in the Brotherhood has been a capital offense in Syria since 1980, when the government defeated a revolt by Islamic militants.

Assad, who remains relatively popular, has long been viewed by Syrians as a leader whose hands have been tied by the "old guard" in the government who are opposed to change.

"Expectations [for change] were raised tremendously and now there is a lot of disappointment," says Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst based in Damascus. "Officials have been working to tone down the expectations. There will be no law to amend article eight of the constitution. There will be no wide-scale amnesty."

Analysts and officials now say the congress will discuss legalizing political parties that are not religious or ethnic in nature, minimizing the role of the Baath Party, and changing the country's print law, which governs the press and establishing municipal elections by 2007.

And while hopes for substantial reform are beginning to wane, Syrian reformers and opposition figures - even those who oppose US policy in Middle East - are still counting on international pressure on Syria.

"If this pressure continues up to the conference, the decisions that come out of the conference will not be because of internal political decisions or internal ideological changes within the party," says Omar Amiralay, a filmmaker whose most recent film, "A Flood in Baath Country," takes a cutting jab at the role of the Baath Party in the country. "Any announced reforms are going to be the result of individual decisions and that will depend on the strength of the external pressure."

But the pressure coming from Washington is now largely aimed at Syria's alleged role in the Iraqi insurgency, charges that continue to rattle US-Syria relations. Syria's swift withdrawal of its troops and security forces from Lebanon last month after the assassination of the popular Mr. Hariri in February did little to improve relations with the Bush administration.

The Syrian ambassador to the US, Imad Moustapha, said last week that Syria has stopped all cooperation with the United States military and the Central Intelligence Agency because of Washington's charges that Damascus is still aiding the Iraqi insurgency, The New York Times reported Tuesday.

Over the past two years, analysts say, US pressure on Syria was largely aimed at regime compliance, rather than regime change.

But that perception is changing, and many here now believe that US aims in Syria are moving toward destabilizing the regime - a policy that even the most adamant opposition leaders and activists say would be dangerous and could lead to civil strife.

"I'm afraid that under US pressure, the regime would collapse and we'd have a situation like in Iraq, but without an invasion, without a war, just from pressure," says Louay Hussein, a writer and opposition figure. Syria, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country, has large populations of Alawites, Christians, Kurds, and Druze, among others.

"The better alternative would be for someone within the government to offer reforms," he says.

Opposition activists argue that reform is possible only if the regime abolishes the country's 42-year-old emergency law, which has kept the country in a state of martial law since 1963, gets rid of Article 8 of the constitution, and if freedoms of expression and association are guaranteed.

"People want to see important systemic changes, but in their hearts most people suspect that any changes will only be window dressing," says Landis. "Nonetheless, they are being kept on the edge of their seats."

The rate at which reforms move this time around, analysts argue, may be the key to maintaining the legitimacy of the government and warding off further US pressure. Many believe that this is the last chance for their government to shape up and get the backing of their populace.

"Things have been going too slowly," says one government reformer and analyst.

"People are fed up with slogans," he adds, "but they will also not put up with military force from the outside. The worst thing that could happen now is if the Baath Party Congress results in gradual reform."

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*Rhonda Roumani is a freelance writer living in Syria and former Islam producer
at Beliefnet. This article the article was printed before the Baath Party congress meeting.
Source: The Christian Science Monitor, May 25, 2005
Visit The Christian Science Monitor at www.csmonitor.com.
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright is owned by the Christian Science Monitor. Please contact lawrenced@csps.com for permission

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ARTICLE 2
Turkey's dreams to join EU grow less likely despite assurances
Michael Glackin

The European Union spent most of last week desperately trying to reassure Turkey that its dream of joining the 25 nation bloc is still alive. But the truth is Ankara's long-held ambitions to join Europe's exclusive club were holed below the water last week. Negotiations with Ankara are scheduled to begin on October 3, but uncertainty over yesterday's referendum on the EU constitution in France and elections in Germany are likely to scupper talks before they even start.

The European Commission insisted last week there is no immediate concern and Turkey is set to keep its October date. In theory the decision to open negotiations is irreversible, since every EU state signed up to it. But in the real world, the world where political leaders are accountable to their electorate, a very different scenario is unfolding.

French voters looked set last night to reject the EU constitution, a rejection that is partly fueled by public opposition to Turkey's entry into the EU.

France has always been hostile to Turkish EU membership. In a desperate bid win yesterday's referendum, French President Jacques Chirac insisted that a "yes" vote for the constitution would make it harder for Turkey to become an EU member. Chirac told anyone willing to listen that Ankara "still has a long way to go," particularly now the EU is "affirming its values" with a constitution. And just in case anyone remains in doubt, Chirac has already promised to hold a referendum in France before admitting Turkey into the EU fold.

If that wasn't enough to upset Ankara, this month's political turmoil in Germany added to its woes. Eight days ago Ankara's biggest supporter in the EU, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democratic government lost a crucial regional election in Germany. The loss forced Schroeder to call for national elections to be brought forward by a year, a move which many believe will propel to power Germany's conservative Christian Democrats, who are firmly opposed to Turkey's European Union bid.

News of Schroeder's early election announcement sent a shiver through Turkey's financial sector. Istanbul's stock market plunged 4.5 percent the following day, while the Turkish lira slumped almost 1 percent against the euro.

Just in case anyone thought the prospect of government might soften their views, Angela Merkel, the Christian Democrat leader, took pains last week to reiterate her opposition to Turkey's EU bid, insisting that the country be offered no more than a "privileged partnership." Meanwhile former Christian Democrat leader and current head of the party's powerful Bavarian wing, Edmund Stoiber, said he would do "everything within his legal power" to keep Turkey out.

In short any German election campaign is likely to turn into a debate about Turkey's EU membership.

The Christian Democrats have pledged to honor the membership talks. But if Merkel becomes chancellor next September, just a few weeks before Turkey's negotiations are scheduled to begin, Ankara is likely to be embarking on a long and tortuous road which may well leave it further away than ever from its goal of EU membership. Lest we forget, Croatia's much touted membership talks earlier this year were put on hold after the EU raised concerns about its compliance with the Hague war crimes tribunal.

But even allowing for the likely result of yesterday's vote in France and Germany's internal woes, Ankara still has some high hurdles to jump.

Turkey's Parliament finally passed a revised penal code last Friday, one of the key conditions for EU talks to begin. But a number of European officials were unimpressed, citing worries over the "vague wording" of many of the amendments.

Meanwhile, Turkey has only four months to sign a protocol extending the EU-Turkey customs union to the 10 new EU members that joined last year, who include of course the divided island of Cyprus. Turkey insists it is ready and willing to sign up to the protocol but the defacto recognition of the Greek Cypriot government is still not an easy political sell at home. And just to add fuel to the fire, Greek Cypriot President Tassos Papadopoulos keeps reminding his countrymen that he can veto Turkey's entry at any time.

Against this background it's little wonder that an increasingly large number of Turks are getting tired of what they see as never ending concessions which are failing to get them nearer the entry door to EU membership.

Turkey has come a long way in improving its human rights record and its treatment of Kurds and other minorities. But it has further to travel to come up to the accepted European norms. Pictures beamed around the world last March of Turkey's less than liberal policemen violently breaking up a women's day protest have hardly helped persuade EU waverers on the merits of Turkish membership.

By the end of this year Ankara may well have to settle for less than EU full membership. But would that be such a tragedy? The work Turkey has done to make itself compatible to EU membership will not be wasted. Economic reform has made it the darling of the emerging markets. Last year Turkey posted its third consecutive year of growth and now boasts single-digit inflation for the first time in decades. The lot of the average Turk is improving, and even if the new legal code remains somewhere short of perfect, it is a huge improvement, particularly for those women whom the world saw getting clobbered by the police, on its predecessor.

Whether Turkey gets into the EU or not, its leaders cannot turn back the clock, even if Europe's politicians want to.

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* Michael Glackin is the managing editor of The Daily Star.
Source: The Daily Star, May 30, 2005
Visit the Daily Star, www.dailystar.com.lb.
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 3
War, journalists, and cultural blunders
Frank Kaufmann

NEW YORK -- The near thorough removal of all communications boundariesin our contemporary world is unprecedented. Incendiary Arabic language sermons quickly circulate among American conservatives, and insults to Islam are heard instantly in remote cities and villages from Peshawar to Kuala Lumpur. We do not yet have habits of mind that match this new reality. Debate, reactions, and analyses struggle to transcend traditional categories. As such they do not shed light. Wholesome responses and solutions elude us.

Last week two privately owned corporations, namely Newsweek Inc. (a Washington Post company), and the Washington Times sparked high intensity, international incidents. In one there was even loss of life. Newsweek ran a half sentence on desecrating the Koran causing a worldwide firestorm including riots and death, and the Washington Times ran an objectionable and embarrassing cartoon. The half sentence and the cartoon caused problems of towering gravity and consequence. Very little is similar between the two cases other than that they both had to do with the incredibly fragile relations between "the West" and "Islam".

The Times peccadillo came and went somehow waning despite the paper's odd non-apology about "man's best friend". Perhaps the more horrifying series of events surrounding the Newsweek half sentence knocked the legs out from under the Times' troubles.

Analysis of these phenomena should concentrate on two most important aspects:
1. The immediate politicization of the problem and virtually all commentary that followed.
2. The clear evidence that cultural ignorance a) abounds, and b) has dire consequences in this age of instant communication.

David Brooks described the politicization well in his May 19 New York Times editorial. The Newsweek problem called for quick, genuine, and creative solutions. Instead we were buried under the hype and barrage of finger pointing and blame from all sides. Then, instead of searching for creative, urgently needed solutions, we are made cross-eyed by yet another round of media narcissism obsessing on itself in the tiring minutiae of journalism standards, use of sources and other shop talk.

These are all red herrings even though the real problem is plain. What the Newsweek blunder showed, more than confusion over the use of sources, was the simple fact that almost no non-Muslim Americans naturally know how the Koran truly functions in Muslim life and piety.
Why wasn't our ignorance of the one of the most basic facts of Muslim piety the immediate focus of our national conversation? (Same with the offensive "dog" cartoon. How many non-Muslim Americans know how dogs are viewed in Muslim culture?)

Yes, the question of single source and anonymous source reporting is interesting. Yes, the question of media responsibility in a "time of war" is interesting. Surely the question of prisoner rights is interesting, and all are extremely important. The most frightful revelation however shown by the "Newsweek horrors" is that the cost of cultural and religious ignorance in a world of instant communication is at an all time high, and can no longer be ignored or left unattended. The solution to this problem does not lie in blaming newspapers, interrogators, or militants. It is a complex problem that should be approached by all communities and leaders unencumbered by the poison of blame and politicization.

The second major problem revealed in these events has to do with a near impossible effort to divide a "foreign" cultural sphere into an enemy half and an allied half. To presume that one can simply divide into "good guys and bad guys," a 1-billion-person international community grounded in 1,400 years of complex and opaque processes and evolution is silly on the face of it.

Islamic history, theology, jurisprudence, political philosophy, and the profound and subtle evolution of its schools of interpretations, its political and theological development, its own debated issues of expansion, modernization, race and gender issues and more takes patience and understanding to intuit. To think that one can do this on the cheap, and further to think this is possible under the defining context of military alliances and national self-interest is in a word, impossible, and should be unthinkable.

Until the alliance between the United States and forward looking Muslim thinkers, countries, and leaders is one that transcends military purposes, and grows to become one of mutual embrace, and until the centuries long slide of modernity into the secularization that misses religion as a vital to the human experience is reversed, we are bound to continue suffering from the results of self-imposed ignorance.

We may not always have Michael Isikoff [the Newsweek reporter who wrote the article] to blame for our own sins. The next half sentence might be my own.

Only a starting point of true inter-cultural and interreligious respect and collaboration can start to dampen the flames of violence couching ever ready at the doors of instant global communication.

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*Frank Kauffmann is the director of the office of inter-religious relations of the Inter-Religious and International Federation for World Peace, which was founded by Rev. Sun Myung Moon. This article appeared in the World Peace Herald.
Source: Middle East Times, May 22, 2005
Visit the Middle East Times at www.metimes.com.
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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ARTICLE 4
US and the Muslim World: There Are Still Possibilities for Mending Fences
William Fisher

As parts of the Muslim world continued to demonstrate its hostility to the US on the heels of a Newsweek magazine article charging that a copy of the Qur'an was flushed down a toilet, America's premiere foreign policy organization issued a new report claiming that better communications could still win Muslim hearts and minds.

But the report, issued by the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations, said better US communications will require "listening more, a humbler tone, and focusing on bilateral aid and partnership, while tolerating disagreement on controversial policy issues," as well as substantial funding and effort.

Newsweek reported that it was told by an unnamed source that evidence of desecration of the Qur'an would be included in an upcoming government report on events at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The source later turned out to be unreliable, and Newsweek retracted its story.

The CFR report - "A New Beginning: Strategies for a More Fruitful Dialogue with the Muslim World" - is based on the results of focus group research in Morocco, Egypt, and Indonesia. The research was carried out by Craig Charney and Nicole Yakatan of Charney Research.

The report points out that in all three countries, images of the United States are dominated by resentment of American power and anger directed at President George W. Bush - negative attitudes that spill over to American brands and people. "Perceptions matter: Most Muslims do not hate America for 'who we are' or 'what we do', but for what they perceive we do."

The council said, "Muslim views of the United States as domineering and hostile reflect relentless local reporting on Iraq, Palestine, and purported negative American attitudes toward Muslims, along with ignorance of US aid programs to the region and US support for regional reform."

Reports on television networks largely hostile to the United States are Muslims' main source of information; US government-sponsored media (Al-Hurra TV and Radio Sawa) have little impact in the region.

The effects of unfavorable media coverage are reinforced by stereotypes about the US decision-making process, particularly about alleged Jewish influence on US foreign policy.

However, the report finds, America currently has a window of opportunity to change Muslim attitudes.

Positive impressions about tsunami relief efforts in Indonesia, Iraq's recent election, and new Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts are providing the second Bush administration a chance for a fresh start.

"Rather than trying - and failing - to persuade Muslims to support American policies in Iraq or Palestine", the report says, "the United States should publicize its significant development aid to their lands, which, despite soaring aid budgets, is almost invisible to them."

Other commentators have taken a different view.

"The US government can repackage its policies all it wants, but people will see through the words as long as the US government continues to treat the region simply as a means to an end: Strategic control over oil," said Brian Foley, a professor at the Florida Coastal Law School in Jacksonville, Florida.

And Jack N. Behrman, professor emeritus at the University of North Carolina and former assistant secretary of commerce, said, "Nothing in the PR or public diplomacy arena can offset the acts of the US and the statements of Bush himself, which remain dictatorial, arrogant, and insensitive to the Arab world and it peoples. AID remains locked into its old-style assistance and cannot apparently focus on the fundamental, long-term needs there - namely education, development of enterprise, and employment opportunities, plus openings to the world economy. Joining the world community gives hope, but it must be done while permitting cultural differences - so long as they do not include intolerance from any quarter."

The CFR report says, "When focus group members learned of US aid efforts - via media reports on tsunami relief in Indonesia or support for women's rights in Morocco - it significantly improved their attitudes toward the United States".

Although the seriousness of the anti-American attitudes has won growing recognition, neither public nor private efforts have addressed Muslim hostility to America with the sustained focus or resources required, the CFR said.

Among the report's recommendations:
* Focus on partnerships in support of local Muslim initiatives, without presenting the United States as the motor of change.
* Agree to disagree on contentious issues involving other countries, such as Iraq or Israel and Palestine.
* Engage local and regional media via press releases, interviews, Op-Eds, press conferences, and site visits.
* Launch an advertising campaign on US aid and support for reform in local and regional media, and acknowledge the US government as the source.
* Improve reporting of aid programs, particularly those concerning economic, education, and health aid, in US government media.

The CFR research found that immediate reactions to the United States reveal resentment of American power and of President George W. Bush. American behavior is perceived as being largely predatory. The report said this hostility is spilling over into negative attitudes toward American people and brands.

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* William Fisher is a freelance writer and regular contributor to Arab News.
Source: Arab News, May 28, 2005
Visit Arab News at www.arabnews.com
Distributed by the Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity.
Copyright permission has been obtained for publication.

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The Common Ground News Service - Partners in Humanity, brought to you by Search for Common Ground, seeks to build bridges of understanding between the West and the Arab World and countries with predominately Muslim populations. This service is one outcome of a set of working meetings held in partnership with His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal in June 2003.

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Editors:
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Youth Views Editor

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WORDS AND WORLDS
World Languages Review

UNESCO ETXEA

With an extraordinary ability to combine empirical data and strategic recommendations, this review of the urgent necessity to protect linguistic diversity is both a fascinating and accessible work of reference. It is also a manifesto for responsible action, so that we do not loose more of our common humanity in the name of so-called progress and globalised modernity. The authors, UNESCO ETXEA and Multilingual Matters have made an important contribution to the understanding of one of the major issues of this and coming decades. Colin H Williams, Cardiff University

Description
World Languages Review aims to examine the sociolinguistic situation of the world: to describe the linguistic diversity that currently characterizes humanity, to evaluate trends towards linguistic uniformity, and to establish a set of guidelines or language planning measures that favour the weaker or more endangered linguistic communities, so that anyone engaged in language planning -government officials, institution leaders, researchers, and community members- can implement these measures.

Contents
Acknowledgements/ Prologue/ Introduction
1. Linguistic Communities
2. The Linguistic Heritage
3. The Official Status of Languages
4. The Use of Languages In The Administration
5. Language and Writing
6. Language and Education
7. Languages and the Media
8. Language and Religion
9. Transmission and Intergenerational Use of Language
10. Linguistic Attitudes
11. The Threats to Languages
12. The Future of Languages
Appendixes: References/ Web References/ List of Informants/ Subject Index/ Index of Languages, Families and Varieties/ Survey

Editor information
Fèlix Martí.. Director of the UNESCO Centre of Catalonia (1984-2002) and President of the UNESCO Advisory Committee on Linguistic Pluralism and Multilingual Education (1999-2003). Paul Ortega. Former director of UNESCO Etxea-UNESCO Centre of the Basque Country. Secretary General of Pax Romana ICMICA since October 2004. Itziar Idiazabal. Professor at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU).
Andoni Barreña. Professor at the University of Salamanca. Patxi Juaristi. Professor at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU). Carme Junyent, Professor at the University of Barcelona. Belen Uranga. Coordinator of the survey carried out for World Languages Review. Estibaliz Amorrortu. Professor, University of Deusto.

Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 225x170mm July 2005 344pp
Hbk ISBN 1-85359-827-5/EAN 978-185359-827-2 £49.95 / US$89.95/ CAN$119.95
Ebook ISBN 1-85359-828-3/ EAN 978-185359-828-9 £49.95 / US$89.95/ CAN$119.95

Subject (BIC): Sociolinguistics (CFB), Bilingualism and multilingualism (CFDM)
Level: General/ Undergraduate/ Postgraduate/ Research Territory: World
MM Subject interests: 100, 110 MM Series: Bilingual Education & Bilingualism

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

in letzter Minute ist noch ein Platz für unsere gemeinsam mit der INISA durchgeführte Studienreise nach London (10.-13. Juni) frei geworden. Wer interesse hat meldet sich bitte bis spätestens Donnerstag, 12. Juni um 12.00 Uhr bei Eric Van Grasdorff: e.vangrasdorff at africavenir.org

Mit der Eventserie ‚Africa05’ wird London in diesem Jahr zum weltweit größten Schauplatz zeitgenössischer afrikanischer Kunst und Kultur! Über vierzig Museen, Konzerthäuser und Kulturinstitutionen nehmen an diesem Megaevent unter der Leitung von Augustus Casely- Hayford teil, unter anderem solch renommierte Etablissements wie das British Museum, das South Bank Centre oder das Arts Council England. Ziel ist nicht nur die Infragestellung britischer Afrikabilder, sondern vor allem die Einbeziehung afrikanischer Kunst und Kultur in den britischen Mainstream. http://www.africa05.co.uk/Questions.htm

Einen geeigneteren Zeitpunkt hätten sich die Organisatoren kaum aussuchen können, hat doch Großbritannien in diesem Jahr sowohl die G8 als auch die EU Präsidentschaft inne, was besonders London in den Mittelpunkt der Weltöffentlichkeit rücken wird.

Aus diesem Anlass führen die Initiative Südliches Afrika (INISA e.V.) und AfricAvenir International e.V. vom 10.-13. Juni 2005 (Freitag – Montag inklusive) eine Studienreise nach London durch. Neben dem Besuch von Africa05 Events steht die Auseinandersetzung mit der britischen Afrikapolitik im Mittelpunkt unseres Aufenthalts. Geplant sind eine Stadtführung durch das afrikanische London, Gespräche mit Parlamentariern und Wissenschaftlern sowie der Besuch afrikapolitisch tätiger NGOs. Um den Teilnehmern möglichst großen Freiraum für eigene Initiativen einzuräumen werden lediglich ein bis zwei feste Programmpunkte pro Tag geplant, was jedoch weitere gemeinsame Aktivitäten nicht ausschließt. http://www.africavenir.com/africavenir/berlin/study-trips/london-programm-dt.php

Da jedoch der Flug inzwischen teurer geworden ist kostet die gesamte Reise derzeit 270,-€ (da sich die Flugpreise jedoch täglich ändern ist ein weiterer Preisanstieg bis Donnerstag nicht ausgeschlossen). Im Preis sind Flug, Übernachtung, die Fachgespräche (siehe Programm) und der Museumsbesuch enthalten.

www.AfricAvenir.org
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AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich.

The Third Annual Department of Peace Conference

Support a
U.S. Department of Peace
September 10th, 11th, and 12th, 2005
Washington D.C.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Join us in our nation's capitol to lobby for a Cabinet-level
Department of Peace, as the legislation is re-introduced in the House of Representatives as a tribute to victims of September 11th.

From a culture of peace will come a world without war.

Marianne Williamson
Hon. Dennis Kucinich
Judy Collins
Azim Khamisa
Tim Reynolds
and more...

At the Conference:

Join with hundreds of citizens from across the country.
Develop a comprehensive understanding of the Department of Peace legislation.
Discover and practice effective lobbying strategies.
Network with citizens from around the country:
Visit Capitol Hill and walk the halls of Congress
Meet your representatives
Make your voice heard.
Form a new political constituency with the power to make an historic impact.
Every generation has its moment.
This is ours...

Conference Sponsored by:

www.ThePeaceAlliance.org

We hope to see you there!

Register now and learn more at:
http://www.thepeacealliance.org/events/sept_conf_05.htm

For further information watch Rep. Dennis Kucinich and Marianne Williamson on CNN at: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/cnn.htm

EMAIL LIST: To join our email list for updates, send a blank email to:
subscribe-3536@en.groundspring.org

The Peace Alliance and Foundation
PO Box 3259 - Center Line, Michigan 48015 USA
Tel (586) 754-8105 Fax (586) 754-8106
www.ThePeaceAlliance.org -- Info@ThePeaceAlliance.org

Please see here the

by Thomas Clough Daffern.

At .06.2005, Leo Semashko wrote:
Dearest Evelin!

Your answers are most pleasant for me. Thank you for you warm words. But what do you will tell about our Appeal? Whether we can hope for support of HumanDHS? Could it become one of equal in rights co-founder of Global Movement "Making Children a Priority"? You see children are 20-40 % of the population in the different countries and remain ITS MOST HUMILIATED part. The participation HumanDHS in this movement would be for it the very important intervention in restriction of humiliation. You agree with me? Could you discuss our Appeal and this my letter in HumanDHS? I very much would like your answers to these questions.

Most fondly,
Leo

Dear Friends!
Please see our Relations with Young and Old for Equal Dignity project! It would be great to hear from you, in what way we could include Leo's initiative! Please see his appeal further down.
Most warmly!
Evelin

May 31, 2005
Dr Leo Semashko
About the beginning of Global Civil Movement "MAKING CHILDREN A PRIORITY"
APPEAL

Dear friends and colleagues, parents and caregivers of children!

I would like to congratulate you on the International Day of Children Protection, June 1, but I can not, because this day remains hypocritical and bitter. It is important that once a year society highlights the importance and necessity of child protection but at the same time it is outrageous that nothing is done of practical change. The world shudders at the incessant reports of disaster and violence against children, but there is little that protects them.

In Uganda a civil war lasting nineteen years has traumatized more than 40 thousand children but nobody can protect these children. Who is protecting these children? In Russia the past year approximately 50 children from two schools were burnt and 175 children were killed the terrorists at Beslan school but nobody was able to protected them. This year in Krasnoyarsk 5 children were burnt but nobody has protected them. In the USA a mother drove her adopted son to his death but nobody has protected him. About 13 millions of the homeless children are in the USA and about 6 millions one are in Russia but nobody has protected them. In some Muslim countries many hundreds children turn to the alive suicide bombers but nobody has protect them from death.

Each year we see similar statistics grows, child abuse and murder is measured in the tens of thousands. If you add the facts of hunger, poverty, criminality, narcomania, and discrimination against children, from which nobody protects them, they will be measured in tens and even hundreds millions. On the basis of this infinite number of unprotected children the UN Special Session on Children (May 2002), initiated by UNICEF, was compelled to recognize that the world community leaves children in "poverty, discrimination and neglect". The good UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) has generally not been executed suggests UNICEF. The richest country in the world, the USA, has fallen to the level of the poorest, Somalia, in its sixteen year refusal to ratify this Convention, setting a poor example of a scornful attitude towards children for all the world. Children are most humiliated and a marginal part of the population all over the world.

I am ashamed for our attitude towards children. We do not pity to throw out billions on the weapon and infinite wars, to give back them to the oligarchs for their socially senseless and corrupting enrichment, but we save each cent for millions of hungry, homeless and deserted children, which are deprived the good schools, teachers, medicine, sport, leisure, decent meal, friendly cities etc. Childhood becomes sick, despised and hated for children. Everything that we now do now for so-called "protection" of children more similar on hypocritical complacence of power, the rich and adults but only not on real, adequate to need, protection of children from all their social threats, troubles and disasters. THE HONEST AND FAIR PROTECTION FOR ALL CHILDREN IS NOT PRESENT ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD TODAY.

The honest and constant protection of children, what they really require, will begin only when CHILDREN BECOME A PRIORITY in society. Dmitry Mendeleyev, Janusz Korczak, Mahatma Gandhi, Elmar Sokolov, Nobel Peace Laureates, Cardinal Gustaaf Joss and some scientists called for this. But nobody knows HOW to ensure a priority to children? It can be ensured only with a universal LAW “About Children’s Suffrage Executed by Parents and Guardians”.

This law creates a priority for children. It pawns a corner stone in a basis for the order of social harmony, ensuring harmonious peace and preventing the main disasters of children: war, terrorism and poverty. It is discussed on sole in the world website "A New Culture of Peace from Harmony" (www.peacefromharmony.spb.ru). Please look the website contents pages 2-4 (http://www.peacefromharmony.spb.ru/docs/2-4_eng.pdf), on which the specified law project is submitted.

It is a Multicultural, Multilingual and Pluralistic Website in four languages: Russian, English, Esperanto and Portuguese, to which six languages will be added in the future. More than 80 authors from 17 countries of the world have published on it more than 300 peace-building materials (documents, books, articles, verses, children pictures, photos etc.) for the interests and priority of children. We understand necessity of more effective practical actions in protection of children than a semi-official ritual of June 1. Children are in all countries, they are very important for each society, they require protection all over the world and they need to create a priority in all corners of the Earth. Therefore:

WE OFFER TO BEGIN FROM JUNE 1, 2005 A NEW GLOBAL CIVIL MOVEMENT "MAKING CHILDREN A PRIORITY".

It will unit the best and most part of parents, grandmothers and grandfathers, teachers and doctors, all caregivers, which with children make from 50 up to 80 % of the population in the different countries of the world. Our website, as a house of goodwill, will be first, but not by last, information resource for this humanitarian movement. There will be goodwill; there will be also other resources for it.

We address to all people of goodwill who are concerned about the problems children face, to support this movement by SENDING a short email with one phrase “Make Children a Priority” to your government with copies in the UN, UNICEF and our website: semashko4444@mail.admiral.ru . In this letter, please, specify your first and second names, kind of employment, and relation to children (parent, grandmother, senior brother, teacher etc.), residence, country and date. For us you will be the adherents, with whom we shall form Organizational Committee of Global Movement "Making Children a Priority", its Mission, Program of activity and National Committees.

Hilarie Roseman from Australia, a mother of 8 children and grandmother of 12 grandchildren has sent the first email “making children a priority in Australia” to the Prime Minister of Australia Mr. John Howard on May 25. This email is published on our website to the address: http://www.peacefromharmony.spb.ru/eng/contents/dialpeah/makchildpr/.

LET'S FOLLOW HILARIE RISEMAN’S NOBLE AND COURAGEOUS EXAMPLE!

We address also to all peacemaking, children's, female and other civil organizations to support and TOGETHER, incorporated forces, to build the new Global Movement. We offer all of you to become its equal in rights founders.

The Global Civil Movement "MAKING CHILDREN A PRIORITY" will be a constant social institute for the protection of children. It will work towards finding the most effective tools for protecting children, for CHILDREN SUFFRAGE EXECUTED BY PARENTS AND GUARDIANS!

With wishes of real global protection for children,
Leo Semashko, on behalf of the website "Peace from Harmony" co-authors
http://www.peacefromharmony.spb.ru/eng/contents/dialpeah/makchildpr/

Please see Alexander Wendt (2005), Social Theory as Cartesian Science: An Auto-Critique from a Quantum Perspective
In Guzzini, Stefano and Leander, Anna (Eds.), Constructivism and International Relations, London: Routledge, forthcoming.

The article is posted here with the kind permission of the author.

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

Hiermit möchten wir auf die Berlin-Premiere des Films "Recolonize Cologne" heute, Montag, 06.06.2005 um 20.00 Uhr im HAU 1 hinweisen.

Was macht der Kaiser aus Kamerun in Köln? Und warum verteilt er globale Pässe? Der neue Film von KANAK TV wird aufgeführt. Der Docutainment- Movie verlinkt die deutsche Kolonialgeschichte in Kamerun mit dem Kampf um globale Rechte und Bewegungsfreiheit.

EINLADUNG – PREMIERE

Berlin, Mon. 06.06.2005. um 20:00h HAU 1 Theater, Stresemannstr. 29, 10963 Berlin

Was macht der Kaiser aus Kamerun in Köln? Und warum verteilt er globale Pässe? Der neue Film von KANAK TV wird aufgeführt. Der Docutainment-Movie verlinkt die deutsche Kolonialgeschichte in Kamerun mit dem Kampf um globale Rechte und Bewegungsfreiheit. Er trägt den Titel „RECOLONIZE COLOGNE“. Wir laden Sie hiermit herzlich zur Premiere ein. Hauptdarsteller und Filmteam sind zur anschließenden Diskussion mit dem Publikum und Medienvertretern anwesend.

In „RECOLONIZE COLOGNE“ paradiert Kaiser Ngon Pouo’o Metzem III. aus Kamerun auf einer Sänfte getragen in die Kölner Innenstadt. Dort besetzt er ein Stück deutschen Bodens und konstatiert „Ihr habt uns auch nicht gefragt, als ihr gekommen seid, warum sollen wir euch fragen?“ Die Kölner Bevölkerung reagiert. Der Film blättert zurück und holt den verdrängten deutschen Kolonialismus in Kamerun ans Licht. Geschichten von Menschen treten hervor, die seitdem den Weg aus Kamerun nach Deutschland fanden und sich über die Versuche hinwegsetzen, ihre Bewegungsfreiheit einzuschränken. Doch Kaiser Ngon Pouo’o Metzem III. hat den Kölner auch ein Geschenk mitgebracht…. Kanak TV ist ein Kölner Filmprojekt des bundesweiten Netzwerks „kanak attak“. Kanak TV produziert seit vier Jahren Kurzfilme, die seitdem im Bildungsbereich sowie auf Kurzfilmfestivals und Veranstaltungen gezeigt wurden. (Unter anderem: Werkleitz, Kassel, Volksbühne Berlin, Schauspielhaus Frankfurt, Schauspiel Hamburg, K unstverein München, Filmfestival Graz, Impakt Festival Utrecht.)

Kontakt:

Kanak TV c/o Miltiadis Oulios Philippstraße 37 50823 Köln Telefon: 0221 / 5502593 E-Mail: m.oulios at web.de

Kanak TV – Regie Sun-Ju Choi Oranienstraße 49 10969 Berlin Telefon: 030 / 69565901 E-Mail: sunjuchoi at web.de

Kanak TV Mark Terkessidis Tel.: 0163-7469954 E-Mail : terkessidis at netcologne.de

www.AfricAvenir.org
Wollen Sie Fördermitglied von AfricAvenir International e.V. werden?
Kontaktieren Sie Ann Kathrin Helfrich, Fon: 030-80906789, a.helfrich@africavenir.org

Redaktion des Newsletters: Eric Van Grasdorff, e.vangrasdorff at africavenir.org
AfricAvenir International e.V. ist nicht für die Inhalte externer Webseiten verantwortlich.

UNDERSTANDING SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY ACROSS CULTURES: LIVING AND WORKING WITH OTHERS IN A CHANGING WORLD

Peter B. Smith, Michael Harris Bond and Ciğdem Kağitçibasi
(Sage Publishers, forthcoming)

Please see a more detailed Contents List here.

CONTENTS:

SECTION 1: ESTABLISHING THE FRAMEWORK
Chapter 1: Some Pressing Questions for Cross-Cultural Psychology
Chapter 2: Improving the Validity of Cross-Cultural Psychology
Chapter 3: Defining the Way Forward
Chapter 4: Nations as Cultures and their Consequences for Social Psychology

SECTION 2: CORE ISSUES
Chapter 5: The Making and Remaking of Cultures
Chapter 6: Making Sense of One’s World
Chapter 7: Personality in Cross-Cultural Perspective
Chapter 8: Communicating and Relating with Others
Chapter 9: Working Together

SECTION 3: THE WORLD IN FLUX
Chapter 10: Coping with Difference
Chapter 11: Cultural Aspects of Intergroup Relations
Chapter 12: Global Change
Chapter 13: The Unfinished Agenda

Glossary

References

Please see a more detailed Contents List here.

Please see here:

Abstract of Keynote at the Seventh European Regional Congress of Cross-Cultural Psychology by the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology (IACCP), San Sebastian, Spain, July 11-15, 2005.

Please see Alexander Wendt (2003) Why a World State Is Inevitable. In European Journal of International Relations, 9 (4), pp. 491-542.

The article is posted here with the kind permission of the author.

Dear friends!
May we share with you this message from D. Raja Ganesan to Arran Stibbe:

Dear Arran

Greetings from India. I am grateful in the first instance to Dr. Lindner for introducing me to your 'Dignity Beyond the Human World Project'. I read the writeup on your page. It reminded me about a note on a book Professor Jeffrey Moussaieuf Masson, an Sanskrit professor-turned-psychoanalyst-turned a scholar-at-large is said to have written about whether elephants experience the kind of emotions we do, during the late nineties.

The ancient Indian attitude is one of reverence to the whole universe. It is not, however, a pagan animism. Pagan animism is worshipping everything in its original subhuman form. The ancient Indian attitude of reverence to everything goes beyond name and form to the ultimate stuff of the universe. It is in recognition of the spirit that pervades everything. It is founded on the firm belief that everything -- as it is expressed in the Bagavad Gita, the Bible of Hinduism -- plants, animals, men and kings and rivers and mountains -- are one and divine. The philosophy of Advaita Vedanta underlies the attitude and belief.

You are working in an area spearheading an attitude which -- if my perception is right -- goes against the very grain of contemporary humanism. Wish you wholeheartedly all success because I endorse the attitude that everything, not just human beings alone, deserve, not mere dignity, but reverence -- of course, not in the sense in which the frightened pagan revered everything but in an enlightened way.

D.Raja Ganesan

PS: I would like to add a clarification that whereas pagan animism is based on fear and ignorance the Advaita Vedantic attitude is rooted in an understanding of the world as one and a tranquility born out of such a knowledge.

RETHINKING RECOGNITION
by
Nancy Fraser (2000)
In New Left Review, 3, pp. 107-120

Posted here with Nancy Fraser's kind permission.

In the seventies and eighties, struggles for the ‘recognition of difference’ seemed charged with emancipatory promise. Many who rallied to the banners of sexuality, gender, ethnicity and ‘race’ aspired not only to assert hitherto denied identities but to bring a richer, lateral dimension to battles over the redistribution of wealth and power as well. With the turn of the century, issues of recognition and identity have become even more central, yet many now bear a different charge: from Rwanda to the Balkans, questions of ‘identity’ have fuelled campaigns for ethnic cleansing and even genocide—as well as movements that have mobilized to resist them.

It is not just the character but the scale of these struggles that has changed. Claims for the recognition of difference now drive many of the world’s social conflicts, from campaigns for national sovereignty and subnational autonomy, to battles around multiculturalism, to the newly energized movements for international human rights, which seek to promote both universal respect for shared humanity and esteem for cultural distinctiveness. They have also become predominant within social movements such as feminism, which had previously foregrounded the redistribution of resources. To be sure, such struggles cover a wide range of aspirations, from the patently emancipatory to the downright reprehensible (with most probably falling somewhere in between). Nevertheless, the recourse to a common grammar is worth considering. Why today, after the demise of Soviet-style communism and the acceleration of globalization, do so many conflicts take this form? Why do so many movements couch their claims in the idiom of recognition?

To pose this question is also to note the relative decline in claims for egalitarian redistribution. Once the hegemonic grammar of political contestation, the language of distribution is less salient today. The movements that not long ago boldly demanded an equitable share of resources and wealth have not, to be sure, wholly disappeared. But thanks to the sustained neoliberal rhetorical assault on egalitarianism, to the absence of any credible model of ‘feasible socialism’ and to widespread doubts about the viability of state-Keynesian social democracy in the face of globalization, their role has been greatly reduced.

We are facing, then, a new constellation in the grammar of political claims-making—and one that is disturbing on two counts. First, this move from redistribution to recognition is occurring despite—or because of—an acceleration of economic globalization, at a time when an aggressively expanding capitalism is radically exacerbating economic inequality. In this context, questions of recognition are serving less to supplement, complicate and enrich redistributive struggles than to marginalize, eclipse and displace them. I shall call this the problem of displacement. Second, today’s recognition struggles are occurring at a moment of hugely increasing transcultural interaction and communication, when accelerated migration and global media flows are hybridizing and pluralizing cultural forms. Yet the routes such struggles take often serve not to promote respectful interaction within increasingly multicultural contexts, but to drastically simplify and reify group identities. They tend, rather, to encourage separatism, intolerance and chauvinism, patriarchalism and authoritarianism. I shall call this the problem of reification.

Both problems—displacement and reification—are extremely serious: insofar as the politics of recognition displaces the politics of redistribution, it may actually promote economic inequality; insofar as it reifies group identities, it risks sanctioning violations of human rights and freezing the very antagonisms it purports to mediate. No wonder, then, that many have simply washed their hands of ‘identity politics’—or proposed jettisoning cultural struggles altogether. For some, this may mean reprioritizing class over gender, sexuality, ‘race’ and ethnicity. For others, it means resurrecting economism. For others still, it may mean rejecting all ‘minoritarian’ claims out of hand and insisting upon assimilation to majority norms—in the name of secularism, universalism or republicanism.

Such reactions are understandable: they are also deeply misguided. Not all forms of recognition politics are equally pernicious: some represent genuinely emancipatory responses to serious injustices that cannot be remedied by redistribution alone. Culture, moreover, is a legitimate, even necessary, terrain of struggle, a site of injustice in its own right and deeply imbricated with economic inequality. Properly conceived, struggles for recognition can aid the redistribution of power and wealth and can promote interaction and cooperation across gulfs of difference.

Everything depends on how recognition is approached. I want to argue here that we need a way of rethinking the politics of recognition in a way that can help to solve, or at least mitigate, the problems of displacement and reification. This means conceptualizing struggles for recognition so that they can be integrated with struggles for redistribution, rather than displacing and undermining them. It also means developing an account of recognition that can accommodate the full complexity of social identities, instead of one that promotes reification and separatism. Here, I propose such a rethinking of recognition.

The identity model

The usual approach to the politics of recognition—what I shall call the ‘identity model’—starts from the Hegelian idea that identity is constructed dialogically, through a process of mutual recognition. According to Hegel, recognition designates an ideal reciprocal relation between subjects, in which each sees the other both as its equal and also as separate from it. This relation is constitutive for subjectivity: one becomes an individual subject only by virtue of recognizing, and being recognized by, another subject. Recognition from others is thus essential to the development of a sense of self. To be denied recognition—or to be ‘misrecognized’—is to suffer both a distortion of one’s relation to one’s self and an injury to one’s identity.

Proponents of the identity model transpose the Hegelian recognition schema onto the cultural and political terrain. They contend that to belong to a group that is devalued by the dominant culture is to be misrecognized, to suffer a distortion in one’s relation to one’s self. As a result of repeated encounters with the stigmatizing gaze of a culturally dominant other, the members of disesteemed groups internalize negative self-images and are prevented from developing a healthy cultural identity of their own. In this perspective, the politics of recognition aims to repair internal self-dislocation by contesting the dominant culture’s demeaning picture of the group. It proposes that members of misrecognized groups reject such images in favour of new self-representations of their own making, jettisoning internalized, negative identities and joining collectively to produce a self-affirming culture of their own—which, publicly asserted, will gain the respect and esteem of society at large. The result, when successful, is ‘recognition’: an undistorted relation to oneself.

Without doubt, this identity model contains some genuine insights into the psychological effects of racism, sexism, colonization and cultural imperialism. Yet it is theoretically and politically problematic. By equating the politics of recognition with identity politics, it encourages both the reification of group identities and the displacement of redistribution.

Displacing redistribution

Let us consider first the ways in which identity politics tend to displace struggles for redistribution. Largely silent on the subject of economic inequality, the identity model treats misrecognition as a free-standing cultural harm: many of its proponents simply ignore distributive injustice altogether and focus exclusively on efforts to change culture; others, in contrast, appreciate the seriousness of maldistribution and genuinely wish to redress it. Yet both currents end by displacing redistributive claims.

The first current casts misrecognition as a problem of cultural depreciation. The roots of injustice are located in demeaning representations, but these are not seen as socially grounded. For this current, the nub of the problem is free-floating discourses, not institutionalized significations and norms. Hypostatizing culture, they both abstract misrecognition from its institutional matrix and obscure its entwinement with distributive injustice. They may miss, for example, the links (institutionalized in labour markets) between androcentric norms that devalue activities coded as ‘feminine’, on the one hand, and the low wages of female workers on the other. Likewise, they overlook the links institutionalized within social-welfare systems between heterosexist norms which delegitimate homosexuality, on the one hand, and the denial of resources and benefits to gays and lesbians on the other. Obfuscating such connexions, they strip misrecognition of its social-structural underpinnings and equate it with distorted identity. With the politics of recognition thus reduced to identity politics, the politics of redistribution is displaced.

A second current of identity politics does not simply ignore maldistribution in this way. It appreciates that cultural injustices are often linked to economic ones, but misunderstands the character of the links. Subscribing effectively to a ‘culturalist’ theory of contemporary society, proponents of this perspective suppose that maldistribution is merely a secondary effect of misrecognition. For them, economic inequalities are simple expressions of cultural hierarchies—thus, class oppression is a superstructural effect of the cultural devaluation of proletarian identity (or, as one says in the United States, of ‘classism’). It follows from this view that all maldistribution can be remedied indirectly, by a politics of recognition: to revalue unjustly devalued identities is simultaneously to attack the deep sources of economic inequality; no explicit politics of redistribution is needed.

In this way, culturalist proponents of identity politics simply reverse the claims of an earlier form of vulgar Marxist economism: they allow the politics of recognition to displace the politics of redistribution, just as vulgar Marxism once allowed the politics of redistribution to displace the politics of recognition. In fact, vulgar culturalism is no more adequate for understanding contemporary society than vulgar economism was.

Granted, culturalism might make sense if one lived in a society in which there were no relatively autonomous markets, one in which cultural value patterns regulated not only the relations of recognition but those of distribution as well. In such a society, economic inequality and cultural hierarchy would be seamlessly fused; identity depreciation would translate perfectly and immediately into economic injustice, and misrecognition would directly entail maldistribution. Consequently, both forms of injustice could be remedied at a single stroke, and a politics of recognition that successfully redressed misrecognition would counter maldistribution as well. But the idea of a purely ‘cultural’ society with no economic relations—fascinating to generations of anthropologists—is far removed from the current reality, in which marketization has pervaded all societies to some degree, at least partially decoupling economic mechanisms of distribution from cultural patterns of value and prestige. Partially independent of such patterns, markets follow a logic of their own, neither wholly constrained by culture nor subordinated to it; as a result they generate economic inequalities that are not mere expressions of identity hierarchies. Under these conditions, the idea that one could remedy all maldistribution by means of a politics of recognition is deeply deluded: its net result can only be to displace struggles for economic justice.

Reification of identity

Displacement, however, is not the only problem: the identity politics model of recognition tends also to reify identity. Stressing the need to elaborate and display an authentic, self-affirming and self-generated collective identity, it puts moral pressure on individual members to conform to a given group culture. Cultural dissidence and experimentation are accordingly discouraged, when they are not simply equated with disloyalty. So, too, is cultural criticism, including efforts to explore intragroup divisions, such as those of gender, sexuality and class. Thus, far from welcoming scrutiny of, for example, the patriarchal strands within a subordinated culture, the tendency of the identity model is to brand such critique as ‘inauthentic’. The overall effect is to impose a single, drastically simplified group-identity which denies the complexity of people’s lives, the multiplicity of their identifications and the cross-pulls of their various affiliations. Ironically, then, the identity model serves as a vehicle for misrecognition: in reifying group identity, it ends by obscuring the politics of cultural identification, the struggles within the group for the authority—and the power—to represent it. By shielding such struggles from view, this approach masks the power of dominant fractions and reinforces intragroup domination. The identity model thus lends itself all too easily to repressive forms of communitarianism, promoting conformism, intolerance and patriarchalism.

Paradoxically, moreover, the identity model tends to deny its own Hegelian premisses. Having begun by assuming that identity is dialogical, constructed via interaction with another subject, it ends by valorizing monologism—supposing that misrecognized people can and should construct their identity on their own. It supposes, further, that a group has the right to be understood solely in its own terms—that no one is ever justified in viewing another subject from an external perspective or in dissenting from another’s self-interpretation. But again, this runs counter to the dialogical view, making cultural identity an auto-generated auto-description, which one presents to others as an obiter dictum. Seeking to exempt ‘authentic’ collective self-representations from all possible challenges in the public sphere, this sort of identity politics scarcely fosters social interaction across differences: on the contrary, it encourages separatism and group enclaves.

The identity model of recognition, then, is deeply flawed. Both theoretically deficient and politically problematic, it equates the politics of recognition with identity politics and, in doing so, encourages both the reification of group identities and the displacement of the politics of redistribution.

Misrecognition as status subordination

I shall consequently propose an alternative approach: that of treating recognition as a question of social status. From this perspective, what requires recognition is not group-specific identity but the status of individual group members as full partners in social interaction. Misrecognition, accordingly, does not mean the depreciation and deformation of group identity, but social subordination—in the sense of being prevented from participating as a peer in social life. To redress this injustice still requires a politics of recognition, but in the ‘status model’ this is no longer reduced to a question of identity: rather, it means a politics aimed at overcoming subordination by establishing the misrecognized party as a full member of society, capable of participating on a par with the rest.

Let me explain. To view recognition as a matter of status means examining institutionalized patterns of cultural value for their effects on the relative standing of social actors. If and when such patterns constitute actors as peers, capable of participating on a par with one another in social life, then we can speak of reciprocal recognition and status equality. When, in contrast, they constitute some actors as inferior, excluded, wholly other, or simply invisible—in other words, as less than full partners in social interaction—then we can speak of misrecognition and status subordination. From this perspective, misrecognition is neither a psychic deformation nor a free-standing cultural harm but an institutionalized relation of social subordination. To be misrecognized, accordingly, is not simply to be thought ill of, looked down upon or devalued in others’ attitudes, beliefs or representations. It is rather to be denied the status of a full partner in social interaction, as a consequence of institutionalized patterns of cultural value that constitute one as comparatively unworthy of respect or esteem.

On the status model, moreover, misrecognition is not relayed through free-floating cultural representations or discourses. It is perpetrated, as we have seen, through institutionalized patterns—in other words, through the workings of social institutions that regulate interaction according to parity-impeding cultural norms. Examples might include marriage laws that exclude same-sex partnerships as illegitimate and perverse; social-welfare policies that stigmatize single mothers as sexually irresponsible scroungers; and policing practices, such as ‘racial profiling’, that associate racialized persons with criminality. In each of these cases, interaction is regulated by an institutionalized pattern of cultural value that constitutes some categories of social actors as normative and others as deficient or inferior: ‘straight’ is normal, ‘gay’ is perverse; ‘male-headed households’ are proper, ‘female-headed households’ are not; ‘whites’ are law-abiding, ‘blacks’ are dangerous. In each case, the result is to deny some members of society the status of full partners in interaction, capable of participating on a par with the rest.

As these examples suggest, misrecognition can assume a variety of forms. In today’s complex, differentiated societies, parity-impeding values are institutionalized at a plurality of institutional sites, and in qualitatively different modes. In some cases, misrecognition is juridified, expressly codified in formal law; in other cases, it is institutionalized via government policies, administrative codes or professional practice. It can also be institutionalized informally—in associational patterns, longstanding customs or sedimented social practices of civil society. But whatever the differences in form, the core of the injustice remains the same: in each case, an institutionalized pattern of cultural value constitutes some social actors as less than full members of society and prevents them from participating as peers.

On the status model, then, misrecognition constitutes a form of institutionalized subordination, and thus a serious violation of justice. Wherever and however it occurs, a claim for recognition is in order. But note precisely what this means: aimed not at valorizing group identity but rather at overcoming subordination, in this approach claims for recognition seek to establish the subordinated party as a full partner in social life, able to interact with others as a peer. They aim, in other words, to de-institutionalize patterns of cultural value that impede parity of participation and to replace them with patterns that foster it. Redressing misrecognition now means changing social institutions—or, more specifically, changing the interaction-regulating values that impede parity of participation at all relevant institutional sites. Exactly how this should be done depends in each case on the mode in which misrecognition is institutionalized. Juridified forms require legal change, policy-entrenched forms require policy change, associational forms require associational change, and so on: the mode and agency of redress vary, as does the institutional site. But in every case, the goal is the same: redressing misrecognition means replacing institutionalized value patterns that impede parity of participation with ones that enable or foster it.

Consider again the case of marriage laws that deny participatory parity to gays and lesbians. As we saw, the root of the injustice is the institutionalization in law of a heterosexist pattern of cultural value that constitutes heterosexuals as normal and homosexuals as perverse. Redressing the injustice requires de-institutionalizing that value pattern and replacing it with an alternative that promotes parity. This, however, might be done in various ways: one way would be to grant the same recognition to gay and lesbian unions as heterosexual unions currently enjoy, by legalizing same-sex marriage; another would be to de-institutionalize heterosexual marriage, decoupling entitlements such as health insurance from marital status and assigning them on some other basis, such as citizenship. Although there may be good reasons for preferring one of these approaches to the other, in principle both of them would promote sexual parity and redress this instance of misrecognition.

In general, then, the status model is not committed a priori to any one type of remedy for misrecognition; rather, it allows for a range of possibilities, depending on what precisely the subordinated parties need in order to be able to participate as peers in social life. In some cases, they may need to be unburdened of excessive ascribed or constructed distinctiveness; in others, to have hitherto underacknowledged distinctiveness taken into account. In still other cases, they may need to shift the focus onto dominant or advantaged groups, outing the latter’s distinctiveness, which has been falsely parading as universal; alternatively, they may need to deconstruct the very terms in which attributed differences are currently elaborated. In every case, the status model tailors the remedy to the concrete arrangements that impede parity. Thus, unlike the identity model, it does not accord an a priori privilege to approaches that valorize group specificity. Rather, it allows in principle for what we might call universalist recognition, and deconstructive recognition, as well as for the affirmative recognition of difference. The crucial point, once again, is that on the status model the politics of recognition does not stop at identity but seeks institutional remedies for institutionalized harms. Focused on culture in its socially grounded (as opposed to free-floating) forms, this politics seeks to overcome status subordination by changing the values that regulate interaction, entrenching new value patterns that will promote parity of participation in social life.

Addressing maldistribution

There is a further important difference between the status and identity models. For the status model, institutionalized patterns of cultural value are not the only obstacles to participatory parity. On the contrary, equal participation is also impeded when some actors lack the necessary resources to interact with others as peers. In such cases, maldistribution constitutes an impediment to parity of participation in social life, and thus a form of social subordination and injustice. Unlike the identity model, then, the status model understands social justice as encompassing two analytically distinct dimensions: a dimension of recognition, which concerns the effects of institutionalized meanings and norms on the relative standing of social actors; and a dimension of distribution, which involves the allocation of disposable resources to social actors. [1] Thus, each dimension is associated with an analytically distinct aspect of social order. The recognition dimension corresponds to the status order of society, hence to the constitution, by socially entrenched patterns of cultural value, of culturally defined categories of social actors—status groups—each distinguished by the relative honour, prestige and esteem it enjoys vis-à-vis the others. The distributive dimension, in contrast, corresponds to the economic structure of society, hence to the constitution, by property regimes and labour markets, of economically defined categories of actors, or classes, distinguished by their differential endowments of resources. [2]

Each dimension, moreover, is associated with an analytically distinct form of injustice. For the recognition dimension, as we saw, the associated injustice is misrecognition. For the distributive dimension, in contrast, the corresponding injustice is maldistribution, in which economic structures, property regimes or labour markets deprive actors of the resources needed for full participation. Each dimension, finally, corresponds to an analytically distinct form of subordination: the recognition dimension corresponds, as we saw, to status subordination, rooted in institutionalized patterns of cultural value; the distributive dimension, in contrast, corresponds to economic subordination, rooted in structural features of the economic system.

In general, then, the status model situates the problem of recognition within a larger social frame. From this perspective, societies appear as complex fields that encompass not only cultural forms of social ordering but economic forms of ordering as well. In all societies, these two forms of ordering are interimbricated. Under capitalist conditions, however, neither is wholly reducible to the other. On the contrary, the economic dimension becomes relatively decoupled from the cultural dimension, as marketized arenas, in which strategic action predominates, are differentiated from non-marketized arenas, in which value-regulated interaction predominates. The result is a partial uncoupling of economic distribution from structures of prestige. In capitalist societies, therefore, cultural value patterns do not strictly dictate economic allocations ( contra the culturalist theory of society), nor do economic class inequalities simply reflect status hierarchies; rather, maldistribution becomes partially uncoupled from misrecognition. For the status model, therefore, not all distributive injustice can be overcome by recognition alone. A politics of redistribution is also necessary. [3]

Nevertheless, distribution and recognition are not neatly separated from each other in capitalist societies. For the status model, the two dimensions are interimbricated and interact causally with each other. Economic issues such as income distribution have recognition subtexts: value patterns institutionalized in labour markets may privilege activities coded ‘masculine’, ‘white’ and so on over those coded ‘feminine’ and ‘black’. Conversely, recognition issues—judgements of aesthetic value, for instance—have distributive subtexts: diminished access to economic resources may impede equal participation in the making of art. [4] The result can be a vicious circle of subordination, as the status order and the economic structure interpenetrate and reinforce each other.

Unlike the identity model, then, the status model views misrecognition in the context of a broader understanding of contemporary society. From this perspective, status subordination cannot be understood in isolation from economic arrangements, nor recognition abstracted from distribution. On the contrary, only by considering both dimensions together can one determine what is impeding participatory parity in any particular instance; only by teasing out the complex imbrications of status with economic class can one determine how best to redress the injustice. The status model thus works against tendencies to displace struggles for redistribution. Rejecting the view that misrecognition is a free-standing cultural harm, it understands that status subordination is often linked to distributive injustice. Unlike the culturalist theory of society, however, it avoids short-circuiting the complexity of these links: appreciating that not all economic injustice can be overcome by recognition alone, it advocates an approach that expressly integrates claims for recognition with claims for redistribution, and thus mitigates the problem of displacement.

The status model also avoids reifying group identities: as we saw, what requires recognition in this account is not group-specific identity but the status of individuals as full partners in social interaction. This orientation offers several advantages. By focusing on the effects of institutionalized norms on capacities for interaction, the model avoids hypostatizing culture and substituting identity-engineering for social change. Likewise, by refusing to privilege remedies for misrecognition that valorize existing group identities, it avoids essentializing current configurations and foreclosing historical change. Finally, by establishing participatory parity as a normative standard, the status model submits claims for recognition to democratic processes of public justification, thus avoiding the authoritarian monologism of the politics of authenticity and valorizing transcultural interaction, as opposed to separatism and group enclaves. Far from encouraging repressive communitarianism, then, the status model militates against it.

To sum up: today’s struggles for recognition often assume the guise of identity politics. Aimed at countering demeaning cultural representations of subordinated groups, they abstract misrecognition from its institutional matrix and sever its links with political economy and, insofar as they propound ‘authentic’ collective identities, serve less to foster interaction across differences than to enforce separatism, conformism and intolerance. The results tend to be doubly unfortunate: in many cases, struggles for recognition simultaneously displace struggles for economic justice and promote repressive forms of communitarianism. The solution, however, is not to reject the politics of recognition tout court. That would be to condemn millions of people to suffer grave injustices that can only be redressed through recognition of some kind. What is needed, rather, is an alternative politics of recognition, a non-identitarian politics that can remedy misrecognition without encouraging displacement and reification. The status model, I have argued, provides the basis for this. By understanding recognition as a question of status, and by examining its relation to economic class, one can take steps to mitigate, if not fully solve, the displacement of struggles for redistribution; and by avoiding the identity model, one can begin to diminish, if not fully dispel, the dangerous tendency to reify collective identities.

Notes:
[1] Actually, I should say 'at least two analytically distinct dimensions’ in order to allow for the possibility of more. I have in mind specifically a possible third class of obstacles to participatory parity that could be called political, as opposed to economic or cultural. Such obstacles would include decision-making procedures that systematically marginalize some people even in the absence of maldistribution and misrecognition, for example, single-district winner-take-all electoral rules that deny voice to quasi-permanent minorities. (For an insightful account of this example, see Lani Guinier, The Tyranny of the Majority, New York 1994). The possibility of a third class of political obstacles to participatory parity brings out the extent of my debt to Max Weber, especially to his ‘Class, Status, Party’, in From Max Weber: Essays in Sociology, Hans H. Gerth and C. Wright Mills, eds, Oxford 1958. In the present essay, I align a version of Weber’s distinction between class and status with the distinction between distribution and recognition. Yet Weber’s own distinction was tripartite not bipartite: ‘class, status, and party’. Thus, he effectively prepared a place for theorizing a third, political kind of obstacle to participatory parity, which might be called political marginalization or exclusion. I do not develop this possibility here, however, but confine myself to maldistribution and misrecognition, while leaving the analysis of political obstacles to participatory parity for another occasion.

[2] In this essay, I deliberately use a Weberian conception of class, not a Marxian one. Thus, I understand an actor’s class position in terms of her or his relation to the market, not in terms of her or his relation to the means of production. This Weberian conception of class as an economic category suits my interest in distribution as a normative dimension of justice better than the Marxian conception of class as a social category. Nevertheless, I do not mean to reject the Marxian idea of the ‘capitalist mode of production’ as a social totality. On the contrary, I find that idea useful as an overarching frame within which one can situate Weberian understandings of both status and class. Thus, I reject the standard view of Marx and Weber as antithetical and irreconcilable thinkers. For the Weberian definition of class, see Max Weber, ‘Class, Status, Party’.

[3] For fuller discussions of the mutual irreducibility of maldistribution and misrecognition, class and status in contemporary capitalist societies, see Nancy Fraser, ‘Heterosexism, Misrecognition, and Capitalism: A Response to Judith Butler’, NLR 1/228, March–April 1998, pp. 140–9; and ‘Social Justice in the Age of Identity Politics: Redistribution, Recognition and Participation’, in The Tanner Lectures on Human Values, volume 19, ed. Grethe B. Peterson, Salt Lake City 1998, pp. 1–67.

[4] For a comprehensive, if somewhat reductive, account of this issue, see Pierre Bourdieu, Distinction: A Critique of Pure Taste, tr. Richard Nice, Cambridge, MA 1984.

AfricAvenir News are kindly sent out by Eric Van Grasdorff:

Liebe Freunde,

die Juni-Termine in Berlin lassen sich sehen! Es passiert viel rund um Afrika in der Hauptstadt und das ist gut so! Nach den AfricAvenir News erhalten Sie eine Reihe Links zu Volltexten zum Thema Afrikanische Renaissance, die alle, neben vielen anderen, auch auf der Website von AfricAvenir (Rubrik: e-library) zu finden sind (www.africavenir.org/elibrary). Besonders empfehlen möchten wir das Konzert am kommenden Samstag von Dobet Gnahoré im Maschinenhaus der Kulturbrauerei (Donnerstag, 11.15 Uhr auf MultiKulti zu hören!)

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INHALT:
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AFRICAVENIR NEWS

Studienreise ins afrikanische London
Mit der Eventserie ‚Africa05’ wird London in diesem Jahr zum weltweit größten Schauplatz zeitgenössischer afrikanischer Kunst und Kultur! Über vierzig Museen, Konzerthäuser und Kulturinstitutionen nehmen an diesem Megaevent unter der Leitung von Augustus Casely-Hayford teil. Achtung: Reise ist ausgebucht! http://www.africavenir.com/africavenir/berlin/study-trips/london-dt.php

Filmreihe: Sommerpause
Unsere in Kooperation mit der INISA und dem South African Club organisierte Filmreihe geht in die Sommerpause. Der nächste Film wird im August 2005 wie gewohnt im Filmtheater Hackesche Höfe gezeigt. http://www.africavenir.com/africavenir/berlin/film/film-presentations.php

Publikation: Prof. Kum’ a Ndumbe III: „Sprache, Sprachlosigkeit und wirtschaftliche Entwicklungsfähigkeit“
Am Donnerstag, den 11. November 2004 hielt Prof. Kum’ a Ndumbe III. im Weißen Saal der Grazer Burg einen Vortrag über „Sprache, Sprachlosigkeit und wirtschaftliche Entwicklungsfähigkeit“. Dieser Artikel steht nun online zur Verfügung. http://africavenir.com/publications/occasional-papers/NdumbeSpracheEntwicklung.pdf

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TEXTE ZUR AFRIKANISCHEN RENAISSANCE

Einige der Links sind vom Programm nicht richtig gesetzt worden. Dann bitte komplette Adresse kopieren und in das Adressfenster des Browsers einfügen! Sonst über http://www.africavenir.com/elibrary/african-renaissance/index.php

Where there's no Vision the People Perish - Reflections on the African Renaissance [Word, 211 KB]
By Mbulelo Vizikhungo Mzamane, Hawke Research Institute, Working Papers Series, 2001. The ‘African renaissance’ is one of the latest buzzwords to come out of South Africa, and it now plays an important part in ANC policy. The phrase suggests that Africans are continuing to rise out of slavery, colonialism, segregation and neo-colonialism and into liberation. This paper traces the history of the liberation struggles of people of African descent worldwide. It then examines South African President Thabo Mbeki’s vision for a truly liberated Africa of the future. http://www.hawkecentre.unisa.edu.au/institute/resources/Where%20there%20is%20no%20vision%20(long%20version).doc

Africa in the 21st Century: Integration and Renaissance [pdf, 486 KB]
By Théophile Obenga. First Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, organised by the African Union, Dakar, 6-9 October 2004. http://www.au-ciad.org/CIAD_NEW/Documents/Theophile%20Obenga%20-%20english.pdf

The Concept of the African Renaissance as a Force Multiplier to Ensure Lasting Peace and Stability in Sub-Saharan Africa [pdf, 117 KB]
By Col A.H. Louw, Research Paper, Executive National Security Programme 02/2000, South African National Defence College, 17 October 2000.
http://www.africavenir.com/publications/occasional-papers/LouwAfricanRenaissanceForceMultiplier.pdf

Panafricanism in the 21st Century [pdf, fr, 80 KB]
By Elikia M'Bokolo. Paper presented at the 1st Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, African Union, from 7 to 9 October 2004, Dakar, Senegal. http://www.au-ciad.org/CIAD_NEW/Documents/Elikia%20M%27Bokolo%20En.pdf

Rethinking Pan-Africanism [pdf]
By Thandika Mkandawire. Paper presented at the 1st Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, African Union, from 7 to 9 October 2004, Dakar, Senegal. http://www.au-ciad.org/CIAD_NEW/Documents/Mkandawire_EN.pdf

The African Renaissance and the Struggle for Mental Health in the African Diaspora [pdf]
By Frederick W. Hickling, M.D. Jamaica. Proceedings from the Meetings Held, November 17 - 21, 2002, Boston, Massachusetts. http://www.africavenir.com/elibrary/african-renaissance/AR_MentalHealthDiaspora.pdf

Africa and its Diaspora: Forging ideas of an African renaissance [pdf]
By Molefi Kete asante. Paper presented at the 1st Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, African Union, from 7 to 9 October 2004, Dakar, Senegal. http://www.au-ciad.org/CIAD_NEW/Documents/Asante%20theme5.pdf

The African Renaissance - The Triple Legacy of Skills, Values & Gender [html]
By Ali Mazrui, Paper presented at the Africa Centre Conference, "African Renaissance - From Vision to Reality", London, March 1999. http://www.africacentre.org.uk/renaissance.htm

The political economy of Africa in the global system [pdf]
By Samir Amin. Paper presented at the 1st Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, African Union, from 7 to 9 October 2004, Dakar, Senegal. http://www.au-ciad.org/CIAD_NEW/Documents/Samir%20Amin%20Theme%204.pdf

South Africa and the African Renaissance [word]
By Peter Vale & Sipho Maseko, The Foundation for Global Dialogue (FGD) Occasional paper No. 17, October 1998. http://www.igd.org.za/pub/papers/renaissance.doc

Beyond settler and native as political identities: Overcoming the political legacy of colonialism [pdf]
By MAHMOOD MAMDANI. Paper presented at the 1st Conference of Intellectuals from Africa and the Diaspora, African Union, from 7 to 9 October 2004, Dakar, Senegal. http://www.au-ciad.org/CIAD_NEW/Documents/Mandani%20theme%203.pdf

African Renaissance: A Northbound Gaze [pdf, Engl, 666 KB]
By Prof M B Ramose, Formerly Department of Philosophy, Catholic University of Brabant, Tilburg, Netherlands, currently Department of Philosophy, Unisa. In: Politeia Vol 19 No 3 2000, pp. 47-62. http://www.unisa.ac.za/contents/publications/docs/polit193.pdf

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VERANSTALTUNGEN IN BERLIN

"Brücken schlagen nach Afrika - Praktika und mehr": Afrikanischer Länderabend - Internationaler Stammtisch III
Am Donnerstag, den 2. Juni 2005 organisiert das Amt für Internationale Angelegenheiten der HU (Beratung und Betreuung internationaler Studierender) mit Unterstützung von Vertretern der Afrikanischen Studentenunion (ASU), Alawi S. Swabury von European-SADC States Bridge (ESSB) und Studierenden mit Afrika-Erfahrung einen Afrikanischer Länderabend. Neben Kurzvorträgen (zur Demokratischen Republik Kongo, Mosambik, Vorstellung der ASU und Praktikamöglichkeiten im südlichen Afrika) wird es auch Musik und etwas Kulinarisches aus der afrikanischen Küche geben. Zeit: 19:00 Uhr (der Eintritt ist frei!); Ort: Internationaler Club "Orbis Humboldtianus" HU-Hauptgebäude, Unter den Linden 6 Raum HG 3120, im Ostflügel, über Audimax

Auswirkungen des Kolonialismus heute
Am Samstag, 4. Juni 2005 findet eine Tagung zu den heutigen Auswirkungen des Kolonialismus aus einer pan-afrikanischen Perspektive statt. Tagungsort ist die Heinrich-Böll-Stifung (auf der Galerie), Rosenthaler Str. 40/41 (Hackesche Höfe), 10178 Berlin; S-Bahn: Hackescher Markt. http://africavenir.com/news/2005/05/126/auswirkungen-des-kolonialismus-heute

Dobet Gnahoré im Maschinenhaus der Kulturbrauerei
Am Samstag, den 04. Juni findet ein außergewöhnliches Konzert im Maschinenhaus der Kulturbrauerei statt. „Manchen Stimmen gelingt es innerhalb von Minuten, das Publikum zu becircen. Dobet Gnahoré, Sängerin, Tänzerin und Perkussionistin von der Elfenbeinküste, interpretiert ihre Lieder in verschiedenen afrikanischen Sprachen: Bété, Lingala und Wolof. Sie nimmt dabei die panafrikanische Tradition der Band Ki Yi Mbock auf, wo sie ihren musikalischen Ursprung hat. Ihr Repertoire, das auch durch Elemente des Jazz und der Klassik durchwebt ist, enthält außerdem in französischer und englischer Sprache gesungene Lieder. http://www.kulturbrauerei-berlin.de/kulturbrauerei/03_veranstaltungen/consense_gmbh/Dobet_Gnahore_05_06_04.php?bereich=VERANSTALTUNGEN&bereich_sub=

Drei Filme von Safi Faye
Zwischen dem 14. – 16. Juni ist die senegalesische Filmemacherin Safi Faye im Arsenal zu Gast. Im Senegal geboren ging sie Ende der sechziger Jahre nach Paris, um an der dortigen Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes Ethnologie zu studieren. Kurze Zeit später lernte sie Jean Rouch kennen, in dessen Film Petit à Petit (1969) sie mitwirkte. Parallel zu ihrem Ethnologie- Studium schrieb sie sich an der Filmhochschule ein und wandte sich bald ganz dem Film zu. Das Arsenal zeigt drei ihrer Filme. http://www.fdk-berlin.de/arsenal/jun05kal1.html

Sprungbrett oder Stolperstein zur Armutsbekämpfung? U-AKP-Freihandelsabkommen in der Diskussion
Die Initiative Südliches Afrika lädt Sie in Zusammenarbeit mit der Heinrich Böll Stiftung, terre des homes und Weed am Montag, den 20. Juni, zwischen 12.00 und 16.45 Uhr zu einem Seminar zum EU-AKP-Freihandelsabkommen ein. Die Veranstaltung findet in den Räumlichkeiten der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (Rosenthaler Str. 40/41, Aufgang I, 5. OG, 10178 Berlin) in Berlin statt. Die Teilnahme ist kostenfrei, allerdings wird um eine Anmeldung bis spätestens 18. Juni gebeten.
http://www.inisa.de/veranstaltungen%20reisen-Dateien/Berliner%20Diskussionsforum/2005-06-20%20eu_akp02_internet.pdf

Afrika-Rat unter Dach und Fach
Etwa 50 VertreterInnen von rund 25 Vereinen der afrikanischen Diaspora haben am Sonnabend, dem 28.Mai 2005 erstmals für Berlin und Brandenburg einen Dachverband, Afrika-Rat - Dachverband afrikanischer Vereine und Initiativen Berlin-Brandenburg e.V., gegründet. Der Afrika-Rat wird als Lobbyorganisation die gemeinsamen Interessen der afrikanischen Diaspora vertreten und die Wahrnehmung von AfrikanerInnen und ihrer Belange stärken. Er setzt sich für die Vernetzung und den Austausch innerhalb der afrikanischen Community in Berlin und Brandenburg ein. Die Beseitigung des spezifischen Rassismus gegenüber AfrikanerInnen/Menschen afrikanischer Herkunft auf individueller, struktureller und institutioneller Ebene ist ein Hauptaktionsfeld des Afrika-Rates. Ein Schwerpunkt wird das (Selbst-)Empowerment von Menschen afrikanischer Herkunft sein, um die Integration in allen gesellschaftlichen Bereichen, u.a. in Wissenschaft, Bildung, Kultur, Politik und Wirtschaft, zu fördern. Mit den Afrika-Rat haben jetzt PolitikerInnen und Behörden in Berlin und Brandenburg einen legitimen Ansprechpartner zu Angelegenheiten und Themen, die für Menschen afrikanischer Herkunft von Belang sind.

Cool Jazz trifft auf Mali-Blues - der Jazzposaunist Roswell Rudd und Kora-Spieler Mamadou Diabaté begegnen sich in der Improvisation
Am Freitag, den 17. Juni 2005 um 22:00h: Die besondere Affinität traditioneller Musik Malis und des amerikanischen Blues/Jazz ist die Basis dieser Kooperation: ein eindrücklicher Beweis für die künstlerische Dynamik des Black Atlantic. Hinzu kommt zwischen der Free-Jazz Legende Roswell Rudd und dem Kora-Spieler Virtuosen Mahamadou Diabaté eine besondere Meisterschaft der Improvisation. Aus ersten Jam-Sessions Roswell Rudds in Mali ist nach einer von der Kritik gefeierten CD nun ein andauernder musikalischer Austausch auf höchstem Niveau entstanden. Der Times Herald Record urteilte über MALIcool: „Ein Album von ungewöhnlicher Schönheit … Diese Musik überschreitet so viele Grenzen, dass man nicht ein Fan von Jazz oder Weltmusik sein muss, um ihre Qualität würdigen zu können. Man muss nur gute Musik mögen." Eintritt: 10 Euro, ermäßigt 8 Euro. http://www.hkw.de/de/pro gramm2005/intransit05/veranstaltungen_1339/detail__2491.php

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